Child of Darkness
by Miss DarkAuthoress Blackrose
Summary: A rare power bestowed upon him, tainted by the hate he was surrounded by. He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in. Now he's going to rock the Shinobi World by becoming a world renown SSS-rank ninja... Get ready Konoha. Grey!Naruto EventuallyExtremelyPowerful!Naruto DarkFic
1. Changes

**Title:** The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** _He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in._

**XOX**

**Chapter 1:** _Changes_

**XOX**

He stared mutely at the sky above, watching the moon and stars crawl across the black sky at a snail's pace.

_Pain. So much pain._

It was his birthday. He should be happy and joyous, but of course things were always different for him.

_Please, stop the yelling. It's so loud._

Instead of celebrating with cake and presents, he was gifted with a beating and staring at the night sky in an alleyway until he passed out due to blood loss.

_Red. It wouldn't stop. The bleeding._

He sighed in relief as darkness started to overcome his vision and he succumbed to the world of unconsciousness.

_Bliss. Sweet bliss._

**XOX**

The large figure stared blankly at the scene unfolding itself before its eyes, snorting. The human race was pathetic – so ignorant and unaccepting. And they called themselves the top race is existence. It shifted, stretching its body out like a cat. Rudy red eyes gleamed as the humans stopped beating on its host, leaving the child in a pool of his own blood. It growled, anger coursing through it. This sad excuse of a human was its host? With an annoyed flick of a tail, it let its chakra flood the child's reserves and heal his body.

**XOX**

He gave an annoyed snort as he came to. The sun was shining in his eyes, irritating him to no end. He waved an arm over his face trying to shield himself from the strong rays. Much to his relief, darkness overcame the bright light, allowing him to finally open his eyes. He sat up, assessing the damage done to his body. As per usual, his body was completely healed, not a scar or scratch left. The pain was still there though. With a groan, he pushed himself to his feet and limping his way back to his 'house'. He would never call that dingy apartment his home.

He sighed – it seemed no matter what he did, they still wouldn't leave him alone. If he was ignorant to their name calling and threats, he got attacked. If he was happy and loud, he got attacked. If he tried to give logical reasons and talk with his attackers, he still got attacked. _'I've had enough. I'm not going to change myself if it's not going to change how they treat me.'_ he growled in his head. He vowed to himself that for now on, he would be his own person, regardless of how society reacting.

_The dark. How soothing and blissful… _

**XOX**

Iruka growled as he stepped into the room, watching his so-called 'angels' run around the room, yelling, throwing paper shuriken, and flipping over chairs. They were in school to become _ninja_. If they were serious about being _ninja_ they would have recognized his chakra signature or at least wouldn't be this wild and loud because _ninja_ were supposed to be stealthy, calm, and quiet. He cleared his throat, hoping they'd hear him over the noise. Apparently not. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door open and saw a mop of blond hair. _'Naruto.'_ he thought. He turned fully towards the blond, ready to give the blond an earful when he saw the boy's choice of clothing. He was in a dark blue sweatshirt with a hood and black shorts.

"Naruto… what are you wearing? What happened to your jumpsuit?" What he received was a monotone reply.

"It was too bright. Attracted too much attention from my… pursuers." Iruka winced but forced a smile.

"Well go sit down while I get the others under control." The blond nodded mutely and walked towards the back of the room where his seat was located. He dodged the barely accurately thrown paper weapons and paper balls, sitting down in his seat calmly, seemingly not fazed by the chaos around him. Unbeknownst to anyone else in the room, he was rather jealous of these children. They were in school to be assassins, to take people's lives for the sake of their village. And yet they still fooled around like it was an everyday thing to take one's life? _'They've never seen the real world.'_

That, however, was explainable. Most children were ignorant to the real world as their parents shielded them away from it so they'd have a normal childhood. _'I'm not like most children though,'_ he thought, _'and I never will be. I've seen too much.'_ After ten minutes or so, Iruka got all the student calm enough to sit and be quiet. Iruka stood tall, hands on hips, glaring down at the children, daring them to make a peep.

"Alright then," the Chunin started, "now that I've got your attention, we will begin weapon throwing today." The children looked ready to jump up again if Iruka didn't interrupt them. "Hold it! Before you get excited, you will be separated into groups of two. To make this lesson more fruitful, it will be friend against friend. Now don't think of this as competition, but rather training with a partner. Find your partner now and when everyone is just about ready, we'll go outside." The second the Chunin stopped talking, the class of seven year olds jumped up, eager to pair up with their friends. Naruto took his time with getting out of his seat, knowing from experience that no one would like to pair up with him. After most of the kids in the room filed out, he got up from his seat and stood at the back of a line, not caring where. Iruka cleared his throat to get the attention of the children. "Alright then, the person you are going against will be your training partner when it comes to weaponry. Now remember, this isn't a competition. The purpose of this exercise to see where you stand in weapon throwing and how your partner can help you improve. Shikamaru and Chouji, you two are up first." The two children threw their weapons. "Good, good. The both of you just need to work on your stance and power. And next up is…" That is how it went for the past twenty minutes. Being that the kids were… kids, the lines weren't organized so he couldn't exactly tell who he was going up against. He chanced a glance to his left, his somewhat neutral mood dulled from apprehension as well as a hint of excitement.

While he would be the laughingstock for the next couple days for attempting and most likely failing to challenge the Uchiha, this chance was rare – very rare. It gave him a chance to test his skills against the crème of the crop. It was about another ten minutes before just about everyone had gone, save Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto growled lightly at the small conversation occurring in the background.

"_He's gonna lose. He's pathetic."_

"_That idiot has no chance against Sasuke-kun."_

"_He should give up while he still can."_

He snorted inaudibly – the comments the adults made were ten times worse and he ignored those with practiced ease. He was handed a kunai and a shuriken, as was his partner. "Ready boys?" Iruka asked. The two nodded. "Go!" The blond hurled the kunai with as much strength as he could muster, the shuriken following soon after. He peered over at the target, seeing his throws were about 5 rings off from the bull's eye. He looked over at Sasuke's – the raven had managed to lodge both the kunai and the shuriken in the bull's eye, the kunai pinned through the hole in the shuriken. He frowned beneath his hood, sighing with disappointment. Hearing the sig, Iruka snapped out of his shocked stupor. He smiled at the two boys. "Well this is perfect!" The Jinchuuriki's frown deepened at his sensei's remark.

"There's nothing perfect about this unless you're going to have Uchiha train me. I thought the purpose of this was to work with a partner to balance out each other's weaknesses." Iruka blinked again at the well-spoken statement before smiling.

"But it is, Naruto." The Chunin walked over to the targets. The whole class followed their sensei, Sasuke and Naruto in the front. Blue eyes widened as he saw both his weapons buried deep in the targets, their ends pushing out the back of the target. "While Sasuke may have the timing and accuracy correct, Naruto, you have the speed and brute force. A throw with Sasuke's traits may be most likely to hit its target but the lack of force and speed gives the victim not only time to move but to block with no recoil. On the other hand, a throw with Naruto's traits leaves open many opportunities to strike back while the pursuer is constantly raining weaponry, hoping to get a hit. If you combine the two together, the results would be much better without too many loopholes." The blond blinked and smiled softly to himself, glad no one could see under his hood. "Now then! Until lunch, everyone is to take practice kunai and train with their partner. Mizuki-sensei and I shall return shortly." The two Chunin stepped inside the building, leave the children to shift into their groups. Naruto sighed – being from an elite clan, he knew Sasuke obviously didn't want to train with him. He walked over to a large tree in a lonely corner of the training grounds and sat down, comforted by the shadows of the tree. He stared out at the other children, running around and grouping up. A rather large crowd of girls were following the Uchiha around, hoping to be his partner. He shook his head softly before letting his eyes slip closed, intent on sleeping throughout the practice time.

He we just beginning to doze off when the sound of footsteps made his eyes snap open. He watched as the youngest Uchiha stalked over to him and stopped not too far away. "Hey," he called softly, "Iruka-sensei said we have to practice."

The blond shifted, sitting up Indian style. "No offense," he started, blue eyes gazing intently at the raven from under his hood, "I rather not get mobbed by your rabid fangirls." The heir cracked a small smile and chuckled lightly.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about them. They're too busy 'trying to prove their worth' to even care about you training with me." Sasuke said, making air quotes. Naruto sat still for a moment, opting to stare at the ground, contemplating.

It was obvious the young Uchiha just wanted a training partner that was on his 'level' per say. _'And having a training partner for a while will be good. I can gauge my skills.'_ Naruto looked up suddenly, standing up soon after. "Okay, I guess we can train. Let's just go far away from the others so they don't interrupt us." In all honesty, he just didn't want the other kids to tease him about something stupid and irrelevant. They chose two trees to pin their targets on and each took a set of practice kunai and shuriken. He turned to the Uchiha. "So who should train who first?"

"Well, seeing as I can always ask my brother to train me, I should train you first." Naruto frowned, ready to protest, but held himself back – Sasuke had a point. He had an older brother in the ANBU who could help him with just about anything while Naruto could only hope he'd improve without any pointers. He sighed and nodded mutely to the raven's suggestion. "Okay, so first we should start with the way you throw. Which hand do you throw with?" The blond blinked before raising his right hand. "So we'll practice with that hand first and then the left so you can throw more than one weapon at a time like I did. Now throw one of the kunai." The blond did as told, the knife hitting the target with a loud 'thump' and burying itself somewhat into the trunk of the tree. He turned to the raven. "I've noticed that you throw to the right with the way you swing your arm. Now that's okay – everyone throws differently – but if you decrease the amount of force you swing your arm with and increase the amount you put in your wrist, your throws should be a little more accurate." He nodded, flung another kunai at the target, this one burying itself deeper into the target and much closer to the bull's eye. He smiled – he was getting better at this already.

**XOX**

**Twinkle: And that's the first chapter. As of now, I've only planned a few chapters ahead. I'll let you guys know when I have a problem with writer's block. Also, I have the couples planned out. Since this story is mainly focused on Naruto, other couple are pretty much irrelevant but you can still leave your suggestion for other couples other than with Naruto. No NaruHina or NaruSaku. Even though I JUST said that I have Naruto's couple planned out, I have a feeling that in the future one of you are going to suggest one of those couples. No offense to anyone who loves those couples but I don't like them. Anyways! Leave reviews giving me your opinion of the story. Love it? Hate it? Don't want me to continue? The last one will be disregarded because I want to continue it anyway. Hehehe Ja Ne! **


	2. A Friend

**Title:** The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** _He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in._

**XOX**

**Chapter 2:**_ A Friend_

**XOX**

He shut the door to his apartment, sighing tiredly as he dragged himself to the kitchen. Grabbing a cup of ramen, he popped it in the microwave after filling it with water, and sat down at the table. God were his arms and legs sore. _'Sasuke really is a slave driver.'_ He slipped down out of the chair and took a kunai from his collection in his room. Looking around for a target, he saw a squirrel outside his window, on the wood pole. He opened the window and took a stance before flinging the kunai at the animal. The squirrel jumped a mile high when the knife buried itself into the wood next to its tail and scurried away. Naruto smirked, happy with the accuracy of his throw. The microwave dinged and he closed the window, stalking back into the kitchen. He grabbed the Styrofoam cup out the microwave, and sat down at the table.

'_Maybe I'll go do some more training later.'_ He finished off his breakfast and threw away the cup before grabbing a couple more kunai and a few shuriken. Putting them in a pouch, he put that pouch in the big pocket of his hooded jacket and popped his hood over his head before leaving the apartment, locking the door behind him. He got to the training grounds relatively fast by taking the alleyways, and went deep into the trees of one of the training grounds. He used one of his kunai to carve a target into a tree and stood a little ways back from it before flicking his wrist and sending the knife soaring. It hit the third ring from the center. He flicked another. This one hit half way between the second and third ring. He flung his last kunai at the tree as well, and this hit the second ring. "Alright! I'm getting better." He walked up to his makeshift target and pried the three kunai out and carved a target on another tree, continuing his practice.

About an hour into his kunai training, he heard a rustle in the bushes. He put one of his kunai in his pocket, keeping the other two to throw. There was another rustle but he ignored it. On the outside he was calm but on the inside he was panicking slightly. If it was a ninja out to get him he couldn't run away. He didn't know this training ground well enough to get into the streets where he could make a scene so they wouldn't attack him. He frowned and started throwing his two kunai again, his accuracy off as his mind was elsewhere. The bushes rustled one last time before a kunai flew towards him. He whipped the kunai out of his pocket and threw it as hard as he could towards the other. The two deflected off of each other and the blond swore. _'I shouldn't have done that. Now I can't defend myself.'_

He stood perfectly still waiting for the next wave of kunai. The bushes rustled yet again and his training partner from earlier that day stood before him, smirking. "It's a bad idea to throw your only weapon," the raven said. Naruto frowned.

"What's the meaning of this?" he asked, still tense. Sasuke shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I heard someone throwing kunai and decided to investigate. Just so happens that it was you over here." The blond didn't let up, still tense. "Calm down, you act like I'm going to jump and kill you." Naruto froze and forced himself to relax, finally realizing how high the moon was in the sky.

"It's getting late – shouldn't you be home right about now? Your parents will start to worry." Sasuke's smirk fell some.

"My Tou-san is too busy gloating about my brother's promotion to ANBU to care about me. And I know my mother is worried but my father thinks that if I die or get kidnapped out here, I wasn't 'Uchiha' enough to live," Sasuke said, making air quotes. The blond nodded mutely, noting the hurt the young raven's voice. He scratched the back of his head absentmindedly and went to collect his kunai, putting them back in his pouch.

"Well, Sasuke, I have to get home so I can take a shower and get some sleep. Don't want to be tired tomorrow, you know." The raven nodded and he turned away, waving over his shoulder, fully aware of dark eyes boring into his back. _'Hm… odd.'_

**XOX**

Old tired brown eyes watched the dark Jinchuuriki through his crystal ball, observing how motionless the blond was he sat through his lessons – what happened to the bubbly blond from a few months ago? He sighed, stopping his chakra from flowing to the crystal ball. He noticed a dark turn in Naruto's behavior ever since his birthday. He seemed to not care about what people said to him and always made a comment back, like he was annoyed with the fact they thought he'd stay quiet. _'Maybe it's the influence of the Kyuubi.'_ If that was the case…

He made a hand motion and an ANBU appeared before him, on one knee. "Collect Uzumaki Naruto from his class and escort him here. I am sure you are aware of his tendency to misbehave?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed." The elite shinobi disappeared in blur and Sarutobi turned to the window and stood up, hand clasped behind his back. He looked out into the village. _'Minato-kun,'_ he thought. _'He's drifting…'_ He was pulled from his thoughts by a knock on the door. "Come in." He glanced behind himself before completely turning around. "Ah Homura, Koharu – to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We need to discuss something with you," Homura said, taking a seat next to Koharu. "It's about Uzumaki Naruto."

"Ah," Sarutobi mused. "Yes, Naruto. What about him?"

"I'm sure you've noticed his… change, have you not Hiruzen?" Koharu asked. "We know the boy is Minato's legacy but we need to do something about his attitude before the civilian council steps in."

"Very true, very true indeed. I just summoned one of my ANBU to fetch the boy so we could have a talk."

"If you could," Homura started. "You should summon Jiraiya back here so he can check the seal. It could be that the seal is not as strong as it should and that is affecting the boy's mood and attitude – the Kyuubi's influence if you may."

"While normal, I would agree with you," Hiruzen said, turning his chair sideways, "I have a feeling it's not Kyuubi but rather how he actually feels." Homura and Koharu shared a look before looked back at him, expecting an explanation. "The boy has been hated all his life for something he neither knows of or can control. Image how frustrating that would be. On top of that, everyday on his birthday, a handful of civilians a few Genin and Chunin always seem to slip pass me and they do very unpleasant things that a child should never go through to Naruto. While we are worried about his attitude change, we should be glad he hasn't snapped." He sighed and faced his two former teammates. "I've come to this conclusion for one reason – ever since his birthday a few years ago, his personality has changed every time. However, each of those times, he was still bubbly and happy-go-lucky. This time, however, it seems as though he just stopped caring all together." Koharu and Homura nodded in agreement. "As long as we don't turn him over to Danzo, he still will remain essentially himself." There was a knock at the door and Hiruzen instantly realized the chakra signatures. "Well, Homura, Koharu, it's been nice talking but as you know I am a busy man."

"We understand Sarutobi. Ignite the will of fire in him," Koharu said before the two left, leaving the door open for Naruto who stood alone at the door, the ANBU having disappeared after knocking. The blond entered the room, shutting the door behind.

"Ah, Naruto. It's a pleasure to see you. Please, have a seat." Naruto did as he was told, keeping his hood on his head and his hands in his pockets. "How have you been, my boy?"

"Fine." The Jinchuuriki's voice was quiet and monotone, a drastic change from how loud and obnoxious he usually was. "I'm getting better in the Academy." Sarutobi smiled and nodded.

"That you have Naruto-kun! I'm very proud of you." Naruto nodded but frowned.

"What did you call me here for? I know you wouldn't just pull me out of class to know how I'm doing." Hiruzen smirked – the boy was sharp, he'd give him that.

"Ah, very clever Naruto-kun," Hiruzen said. "I've noticed you change in attitude and clothing… Are you feeling okay?" The blond nodded.

"Thanks to my 'fellow villagers', I've decided to act myself, regardless of how they feel about me. I've been trying for too long to please them. Now it's time I do something for myself." Hiruzen smiled to himself.

'_It doesn't seem like the Kyuubi has corrupted him. However, I can never be too sure. That fox is clever,'_ he thought. "Naruto, do you the story of the Kyuubi?" He could see confusion bud in blue eyes and smiled. _'He's still good old Naruto, just not as loud.'_ Naruto nodded.

"Yeah. The Yondiame killed it. Right?"

"Now Naruto, the tailed beasts are just large amounts of chakra compressed together to form a being with a personality and cognitive thinking. With that being said, if you can't kill a Bijou, then what can you do with it? And what does that have to do with you?" Naruto frowned, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. "I don't want you to answer now. When you figure it out, I want you to come back to me. It is then when we will start your training." Naruto's eyes widened and he let a small grin bloom on his face. "I'll have an ANBU escort you back to the academy." The blond mock saluted and walked out the door, waving. Sarutobi shook his head before going back to his paperwork.

**XOX**

**And that's the second chapter of Child of Darkness. By the time this chapter is up, I'll be half way through the third. I'm just that awesome. Anyway, keep reviewing and favoriting and all that good stuff. It's appreciated.**


	3. Academy Attack

**Title:** The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** _He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in._

**XOX**

**I thank you guys for all of the reviews, favorites, and follows. I got up this morning and my phone exploded with emails. Now this story progresses kind of slowly. And as for my grammar mistakes, I apologize. I don't look at what I typed in the past often because I type much too fast. Without further ado, I present to you the next chapter of the Child of Darkness.**

**XOX**

**Chapter 3: **_Academy_ Attack

**XOX**

The skies were grey and gloomy and it was pouring with rain. Birds cooped up in their nests tweeted softly, their melodies mixing pleasantly with the pitter-patter of the rain. The wind blew softly, the smell of wet earth and rain making him sigh softly as he started blankly out the window. Mizuki was teaching class today because Iruka was called in by the Hokage. The blond frowned, feeling Mizuki's grey eyes on him.

"Uzumaki, would you be so kind as to repeat to me what I just said?" Blue eyes swiveled over to Chunin in annoyance.

"You said that chakra control is important to ninja of every kind," the blond muttered. Mizuki sneered.

"Correct. However, I'm not teaching outside Uzumaki. Face me like the rest of class and pay better attention." The blond went right back to staring out the window. A small feeling of foreboding started churning in his stomach, making him paranoid. He, along with the whole class, jumped when lightning struck and the lights went out. The children started screaming and cuddling closer to each other. "Settle down everyone! It's just a thunderstorm! The power will be back on in a few minutes." The kids didn't listen to him as they kept talking to each other frantically. The grey haired Chunin sat down at his desk and leaned his head on his hand.

Blue eyes concentrated on the outside, trying to see through the rain. That small feeling was now overtaking him, making his hands clammy and his body tremble every now and again. He growled at himself. _'Get it together, Naruto. You've been through much more than this. A little lightning is__n't__ going to kill you,'_ he thought. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes. There was a crash out in the hallway and the students started scrambling and screaming. Mizuki shot up out of his chair.

"Hey! Sit down! You guys are ninja in training, not little kids! Now sit down and shut up!" None of the kids listened to him.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw a kunai come straight at him through the rain. He dived down on the floor right before the glass of the window shattered, sending glass crystals everywhere. The kunai buried itself in his desk. It was completely silent for a moment before all hell broke loose. Students near the window jumped out of their seats and all of the windows around the room burst into tiny shards one by one. Students ran out the doors, screaming in fear, tears rolling down their faces. However, Naruto stayed, still in his spot on the floor. He stood up slowly, peering into the grey of the outside.

"Naruto." Said blond snapped his head to the right, tensing up. He relaxed when he realized it was only Sasuke. The young raven had a cut going across his right cheek but was otherwise uninjured. "What are we going to do? We're under attack." The younger boy nodded.

"I want to know who's attacking though," he said, still staring out the window. Sasuke pulling on his sleeve.

"Come on, let's get out of here. Too much glass." Naruto nodded and followed the older boy. The hallway was dark but the two boys continued to walk, heading towards the exit of the Academy. Naruto tensed up as he heard the whistling of a kunai cutting through the air and jumped in front of his raven friend. "Naruto what are you..." Sasuke trailed off as the Jinchuuriki took three kunai to the torso. "Naruto!" He grit his teeth and flew through hand signs. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" The fireball lit up the hallway and fried the two unsuspecting ninja, burning them to a crisp. Sasuke panted, growling at himself. _'Too much chakra.'_ He grabbed Naruto under his arms and dragged him past he two burning ninja, pushing the door to the Academy open. The rain had settled to a light drizzle though the sun had yet to start to peaking through the clouds. The raven laid his smaller friend on his back, frowning at the kunai.

"Well, well, well, look at who we have here. A young Uchiha." Sasuke whipped around, glaring at the tall man who managed to sneak up on him. The man grabbed Sasuke by his collar and held him up in the air. "They say that the Uchiha clan is the strongest clan in this village. But what can a little shrimp like you do?" Sasuke growled at the man. The man grinned at him and flung him at a tree, making him cry out in pain. He tried to stand up but he fell back down. "Ha! How weak and pathetic." Sasuke's head snapped up towards him, and the man chuckled. "Would you look at that. Thanks to me, your famed Sharingan activated itself." Sasuke's eyes widened. "However, that means I have to kill you. I know that Sharingan can copy pictures to memory as well as jutsu." The man pulled a long katana out from the sheath on his back. Fear began to etch itself on Sasuke's face. "Don't be so afraid. At least now you'll be able to join your blond friend in the afterlife."

Blue eyes watch with fear as the man brought his sword down towards Sasuke. A feeling of loneliness crawled up his spine and burst into hot flames that licked at his heart strings and made his chest tighten. He clenched his eyes shut. "NO!"

There a sickening squelching noise and a pained gasp. All the blood drained from Sasuke's face as a warm liquid splattered on his face. His breath quickened and he started shaking, feeling light-headed and scared. Slowly, pale eye lids opened to reveal frantic onyx eyes. Sasuke touched his face, pulling a hand away from his face to see blood on his hand. He quickly scanned his body and only found a few small cuts and bruises along the back of his arms. He looked up and gasped, seeing his would-be murderer hanging in the air by a black tendril that wrapped around his body before piercing straight through his heart. The man dropped his katana, clawing at his chest. Blood bubbled in his mouth and he spit a glob of it to the wet grass below. Both Sasuke and the man looked over to Naruto, who was on his stomach, hand outstretched. The blond was panting hard and sweating, face pale and blue eyes dull. The blond's arm dropped and his eyes rolled in the back of his head, his body slumping over to the side. The man grit his teeth, garbling out his lasts words.

"D-damn... brat."

**XOX**

It was dark. _Heh. No surprise there._ It was always dark when he came to. He opened his eyes, expecting to see the darkness of an alleyway loom over him. He hissed and clenched his eyes shut when he was met by the stark white ceiling of the hospital. He peeked his eyes open this time and let them get adjusted to the light. Whilst scanning the room, he sat up, leaning against the headboard of his hospital bed. A lone nurse who was walking by glanced into his room and sneered before continuing on down the hall. Not soon after, the Hokage was escorted to his room by two Anbu. The old man smiled at him, taking a seat in one of the chairs next to his bed. "Good morning, Naruto. How do you feel?"

The blond shrugged. This was one of the few times he woke up in a hospital. _There's not much of a difference from here and waking up in the ally. This is only cleaner._ "Fine. Not sore or anything like that if that's what you're asking." Hiruzen nodded.

"Good, good. Do you remember what happened?" Naruto blinked. That was a very good question – what _did_ happen? Suddenly, it all came rushing back to him and his eyes widened.

"Sasuke! Is Sasuke okay?" Sarutobi laughed.

"Yes, my boy. Sasuke is quite alright. He's been trying to get in here and see you this morning. You did a very brave and noble thing, protecting him and all." The Hokage's cheery mood sobered and the old ninja stared at him with a hard look in his eyes. "What else do you remember?"

Naruto frowned but told his story anyway. "Well, we were outside and there was this guy trying to kill Sasuke. When he was about to strike Sasuke with his katana, this feeling burst in my stomach and I reached out, like it was supposed to do something. I blacked out for a moment and when I came to, the other ninja was hanging from this black thing with a hole in his chest. After that everything went black and stayed that way." The old Hokage hummed and nodded.

_'These black tendrils could be the doing of the Kyuubi... He said he felt a burst from his stomach that was triggered by seeing his friend almost cut down. With Kushina, all of her demonic transformations were triggered by emotion. So it could very well be the Kyuubi trying to protect its host, and, essentially, itself. Then again... Kushina had that bloodline. The chains that helped her keep a cap on the Kyuubi's chakra. However,'_ Hiruzen glanced up at the relaxing blond on the bed, _'Kushina's chains were white. And these are tendrils not chains. Nor are they white.' _

"So... when am I getting out of here?" Naruto asked, jolting the old Hokage from his thoughts.

"Well, the medical ninja have to check a few more things. If everything clears, you'll be out of here by this evening." The young blond nodded, pleased with the answer.

_'The sooner I get out of here the better. Besides,'_ Naruto thought with a smirk, _'I'd like to test out these new abilities of mine.'_

**XOX**

**See, what had happened was, I finished this chapter about three hours after I posted the other one and I didn't want to post them on the same day so I held this one off. Then I forgot I finished this one and kept putting off 'finishing' it. I just found the time to finish only to find out it was already finished. Fail. Utter fail. ._.**


	4. Enter Sasuke

**Title:** The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** _He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in._

**XOX**

**Okay so I read your reviews and now I have something going on in my head for this chapter. YAY! Enjoy!**

**XOX**

**Chapter 4: **_Enter Sasuke__  
_

**XOX**

Not a lot of people were around at this time of night. Usually ninja idly patrolled the village, but on this night, they were all on guard duty. _'I guess something good did come of this attack,'_ Naruto thought while he traveled through the back alleys. Even your everyday drunk wasn't walking around trying to get him some booze. Just the eerie silence of the night and the creepy glow of the moonlight. Naruto eventually came upon a training grounds and delved deep into the forest surrounding it before smirking. _'Okay, it's late at night. I doubt __the old man__ is spying on me.'_ He shuffled around before standing still. "Now then, there should be a pull on my chakra and..." He thrusted his fist forward, attempting to force his chakra to follow the movement of his arm. He waited for a few seconds and relaxed with a huff as nothing happened. He tried again, getting the same result. Frustration clouded his features and he kept thrusting his hands in front of him. He stop channeling his chakra and swiped the sweat off his face, growling his lack of results. He saw movement to his left and watching in fascination as a shadowy tendril hovered in the air, dancing softly like a flame. He moved his hand and it followed, extending from his shadow.

It barely felt like he was doing anything but holding his hand in the air. He dropped his arm and the tendril dispersed into his shadow, a few wisps of black disappearing into the air. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding to break into a shit-eating grin. He lifted his arm again, imagining the tendril rising out of his shadow to do its dance. He let his arm drop quicker this time, settling into a basic stances with his knees bent. He thrust his hands out on either side of him, shouting with joy as multiple tendrils shot up all around him. He crossed his arms at the wrist and the tendrils started spinning around him, slowly at first but picking up speed. He crossed them further and the tendrils swirled up into a dome that protected him in a full 360 degrees, his shadow being the base of the dome. He gasped – he could see everything perfectly clear from inside the dome but it was pitch black to anyone who looked in. He dropped his arms but imaged the dome staying put. The blond smirked as the image faded, letting the dome melt back into his shadow.

**XOX**

A frown marred his perfect face, ebony eyes staring at nothing in particular. An unrolled scroll was in his lap, its contents irrelevant to the child at that moment, his conversation with his blond friend a few weeks ago on his mind.

"_So why are you not at home? The moon is already up. Isn't your... family worried?"_ _Sasuke shook his head no._

"_My mom probably is, maybe my brother, but my dad wouldn't really care. He's always disregarding me because I'm not like my brother..." Naruto frowned._

"_Why?" Naruto asked. If he had a kid that wasn't as a good as the other, he wouldn't disregard them. A child is still a child, no matter what – he would know that first hand._

"_I don't know. He doesn't like me at all. He thinks I'm too soft or something. And he's really controlling. I'm probably the last thing on his mind right now." The blond's frown deepened at that._

"_Why don't you ever talk to him about it?"_

"_Well he never has time for me, so I talk to my mom and she just says it's because father has to worry about Itachi and his place in the ANBU." Naruto closed his eyes, as if in thought._

"_Maybe he keeps doing it because you don't react... Maybe Itachi reacted to being restricted and that's why your dad pays more attention to him," Naruto said with a friendly smile. Sasuke shrugged – anything was worth a try._

The young raven was startled from his thoughts as his door slid open, his father standing in the doorway. He sat straight up, sliding the scroll off his lap. "Oh, good evening, Tou-sama."

The clan head held his youngest's glaze for a while longer before speaking. "Your mother told me you went to the hospital today... why?" he demanded.

"Oh I just went to go see a friend of mine who got injured in the incident at the academy."

"And who exactly is this friend of yours? And why has he been keeping you out late as of recent?"

"You might not know him but his name is Naruto. We train together after school."

"Uzumaki?" Sasuke nodded, caught off guard by the hostility in his father's voice. "Stay away from that child. I don't want you associating with him ever again." He and Naruto's conversation flashed in his head and anger coursed through him, unrestrained.

"Why?" Sasuke suddenly shouted, startling Fugaku. "I understand he doesn't have the best reputation but he's changed! He's more serious now. And he's a really great training partner. He's my friend!"

"I could care less if he's your 'friend'," Fugaku said, mocking the boy. "I will not have that hellspawn tainting anyone from this clan. Especially not my child." Sasuke's eyes widened in rage before his bangs fell in front of his face.

"...A hellspawn?" he muttered through clenched teeth. "He may be a hellspawn but he understands me!"

"What is there to understand? You are the simplest child I have ever come into acquaintances with! Even as a baby you were entertained by the stupidest of things. Never a sharp one."

"Well guess what? I'm you're child and the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree!"

"Excuse me? You dare insult me?! I am your father!"

"I don't care anymore! You're always belittling me and ignoring me because I'm not as advanced as Itachi! You act like everyone around here is a freaking genius and I'm the only one dragging behind! I'm at the top of my class, I've almost mastered our famous clan jutsu, for Kami's sake I can hit a bull's eye without even looking! What more do you want from me? I'm just a child!" Fugaku opened his mouth to retaliate but Sasuke beat him to it. "But even after practically disowning me for my _elder_ brother, the second I make a friend who will do the things you won't, it's not okay? You can't stand there and tell me what I can and cannot do when _you_ can't even do your job as a father!" A loud smack resounded throughout the room, and Fugaku watched as Sasuke fell to the floor, holding his cheek to ease the pain. The elder male waited for his youngest to start crying like he always did but to his surprise, the raven just glared up at him, silent rage dancing in his eyes.

"Don't you glare at me, _boy_." Sasuke kept glaring, his jaw set into a scowl.

"Fuck you." Fugaku's Sharingan activated and he grabbed his youngest by his arm in a painful grip. Sasuke didn't yell out in pain but gritted his teeth, his ebony eyes in a permanent glaring match with his father's crimson ones.

"How dare you... How dare you raise your voice at me! And you wonder why I won't train you. You aren't worth any of the time and effort I would put into training you! You are a disgrace to this family! You aren't worthy of this clan or its doujutsu!" With that he through the raven to the floor and went to attack him. However, in a quick series of movements, the young raven was out of his father's way, gripping the arm where is father grabbed him, his own Sharingan activated, their one tomoe spinning slowly. "When did you..."

"The attack at the academy. Then again _you_ wouldn't know that." Fugaku went to attack Sasuke again in another fit of rage. In a flash, Mikoto was standing in front of him with a knife at his neck and Itachi at his back with his katana at the base of his father's spine, both with their Sharingan activated, three tomoe spinning.

"Stand down, Fugaku. Attacking my child is completely unacceptable." Mikoto said calmly, a cold edge in her voice. Fugaku frowned – taking on his wife and his heir was unnecessary to just punish that disgrace he called his son. "I'm serious, Fugaku. I wasn't known as the Ebony Rose or was Red Death's partner for playing around."

"And I am not in the ANBU for nonsense either, father," Itachi remarked, his voice soft but firm. Fugaku snorted and deactivated his Sharingan, walking out of the room.

"Pathetic." Mikoto and Itachi relaxed and deactivated their Sharingan, Itachi returning his katana to its sheath. The two brothers' mother rushed over to her youngest, falling to her knees to check him over, her knife clattering to the floor.

"Sasuke-chan, what happened?"

"Nothing... He just told me I couldn't associate with my friend and I got a little angry. That's all..." Sasuke rubbed at his eyes, letting his Sharingan fade as well. Mikoto sent a glance over to Itachi, to which he nodded, and sighed.

"Well I'm going to go put dinner. Want me to bring your dinner in here?"

"Yes, please." Mikoto smiled brightly, pecking her youngest on the check. Sasuke smiled a little, his anger slipping away from him. Mikoto stood up and walked out the room, sliding the door shut softly. Sasuke turned to his brother. "Aren't you going to go too, nii-san?" Itachi shook his head, sitting on the floor and patting the spot next to him. Sasuke sat next to his brother, relaxing as tiredness replaced the spot where his rage had been.

**XOX**

**So as you can see, Sasuke is slightly OCC. But that's because he met Naruto. So there. Anyway, review and favorite please!**


	5. New and Improved

**Title:** The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** _He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in._

**XOX**

**TigrezzTail: Sorry for not replying to your previous review. But no, the guys who attacked the village had no specific purpose and will not return in the future. However, once you read this chapter you will learn what the result of the attack was. ^_^ **

**xChaos Reborn-incognitoX: Hahaha! Your review made me laugh. But they're eight... I think. Although that doesn't really help the situation... but whatever! Glad you liked!**

**Okay, that aside, I have two updates to what I'm going to be doing in this story. For one, I will have the date posted on here. Second, I will be doing review replies. However, I won't reply to every review. Only reviews that ask questions or suggest something. YAY! Without further ado, I present the next chapter of Child of Darkness. Thank you all for the review! I LOVE YOU! (On a side note, as how XOX is my page break, (^_^) will be a lapse in time.)**

_**Posted: February 11, 2013**_

**XOX**

**Chapter 5:** _New and Improved_

**XOX**

Iruka heaved a happy sigh as he grinned proudly at the new and improved academy. Of course, it was the same building. But the fresh coat of paint, new windows, and lots of new supplies made the whole thing seem like brand new. As of right now, the students and their parents were all gathered in the front yard, chatting amongst themselves, waiting for Iruka to welcome the upcoming ninja back. He cleared his throat, gaining the attention of all present. "Excuse me everyone!" The chatting slowly dispersed and Iruka smiled kindly. "Welcome to the revamped Konoha Shinobi Academy!" He waited until the applause died down to continue his speech. "Thanks to our wonderful Hokage and the efforts of our ninja, we have managed to have the academy up and running again! However, the attack a few weeks ago, the academy regime will be kicked up a notch. Additions include better chakra control exercises, elemental control, and specializing in specific weapons. On top of that, students will be in the academy an extra year to accommodate all the new changes. So most of you students will be graduating at the age of thirteen instead of twelve." There were a few grumbles and shouts of disagreement and Iruka chuckled. "We will focus a little less on academics and more on combat. Parents, I ask that you pick up the slack in the academics and we, the staff of this school, will do our best to prepare your children for the ninja world. Thank you!" Cheers erupted all over the school yard, children giving each other high-fives and parents clapping. "Now then, if the students would report to their classrooms we will start the day right away."

(^_^)

Naruto relaxed back into his seat by the window, a sense of giddiness washing over him. Just a few weeks ago, he had no idea he had a very special ability that no one else. Even the Nara clan, who he had read up on, didn't have the type of control over the shadows as he did. He couldn't help but grin at having a one up on the ninja world. He was pulled away from his thoughts when Sasuke slid into the seat next to him. "Hey!" he chirped. Sasuke nodded his greetings, staying silent. "So... did you talk to your dad?" Sasuke snorted, bitterness rising in him.

"I guess you can say that although it involved yelling and him trying to attack me. So sure, we 'talked'. I reacted like you said and he got really angry. I'm done putting up with him. I've been blind to his twisted ways all these years, always trying to please him... No more," Sasuke muttered, glaring lightly at the desk. Naruto blinked, a smirked.

"That's funny, 'cause I made a decision like that a while back." Now that gained Sasuke's attention and the raven raised an eyebrow.

"What for?"

"When I figure out why, I'll tell you." Sasuke stared at him for a while before shrugging. "Besides, I have something _else_ I'd like to show you anyway. After school we'll meet up at the training grounds and I'll show you." Sasuke nodded and they fell into silence. The few students that were in the class perked up at the sound of shouting out in the hall. A few seconds later, Sakura and Ino came rushing through the door, arguing with each other as per usual. Their arguing stopped as soon as they saw their object of affection, and ran over to him, bombarding him with questions.

"Sasuke-kun! Are you okay?"

"We heard you were left here during the attack!"

"And that there was this really big dude trying to kill you!"

"But you took him out didn't you?" Ino asked. Sakura snorted.

"Of course Sasuke took them out! He's my man for a reason." Ino bristled at the implication.

"Yours? Sasuke-kun is my boyfriend! Isn't that right?"

"Why would he like you, you pig? He wants a pretty, intelligent girl like me. Not a dumb blond like _you_."

"Pretty? As if. With that big forehead of yours, who would want you? Not even a bum would want you." Naruto snickered lightly as he watched their fight. It was surprising to think that the two girls were just the best of friends after Ino saved Sakura from her bullies a year ago. The rest of the Sasuke Fan Club started getting involved in the argument. In the midst of it all, Iruka stuck his head in the door and frowned.

"Everyone to your seats! NOW!" With that, the group of girls scattered to their seats, Sakura managing to snag the one on the other side of the young Uchiha. Ino grumbled to herself, sitting a row behind. Iruka left the room again, and chatter resumed.

A random student shouted out, "Does anyone really know what happened to the people who attacked the school?"

"Yeah, I heard the main boss was killed," another kid said, "By a student who goes here." Everyone gasped at that, silence taking over the room again. Kiba, never being one for silence, yelled out.

"Well_ I_ heard that Uzumaki was the only one who ended up in the hospital." The class erupted into laughter and Naruto frowned, having half a mind to tell the dog boy off. Amy, the daughter of a rather rich merchant and one of Sasuke's ever loyal fan girls, smirked.

"Of course he was the only one who ended up hurt. He's the dobe for a reason," she said haughtily. Naruto grumbled lightly under his breath.

"Well if that's the case," Shikamaru suddenly chimed in, "then wouldn't that mean Naruto and Sasuke were the ones still here? So they would know the story." There were noises of agreement, the class focusing on the two eight year olds. Naruto sank lower in his seat and Sasuke glared at Shikamaru for putting him on the spotlight. He glanced to his left, seeing Naruto trying to pretend he was asleep and sighed.

"Yeah, we were the only ones left. We took out a couple guys and managed to get outside. There was a really big guy with a katana and he tried to... cut us down, starting with me since Naruto was already injured. I guess the only good thing that came from that was the activation of my Sharingan." Many eyes widened at that. It was no secret that an Uchiha activating his Sharingan was anything but something simple.

"Wait," Sakura piped in, confused, "you said _we_ Sasuke-kun. Surely Naruto didn't do anything but slow you down and get hurt, right? That's why he was in the hospital."

"Well, he _did_ get hurt and his injuries _did_ lead to him getting sent to the hospital. But..."

"But what, Uchiha?" Kiba snapped, irritated at being left hanging.

"But,_ I_ was the one who took three kunai to the chest for your oh-so-precious Sasuke, so it's only natural that I ended up in the hospital. On top of that, _I_ was the one who killed the guy who would have killed us both, even with an injury. So how about you idiots shut your traps and learn the facts before you want to go bashing someone." The information started to settle into everyone's minds and a few students actually let it go. However, Amy frowned.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" she asked.

"Because I was there, and everything he said is true," Sasuke quipped, staring the girl right in her face. "I suggest you listen." Amy flushed at being told off by her crush, and put her head down. Kiba laughed from the back of the class.

"When did you grow a pair of balls, _dobe_?"

"And when did you learn how to take a bath, dumbass? I guess miracles do happen. But hey, at least I wasn't the one running out of here like a puppy with my tail between my legs, _mutt,_" Naruto mocked, a smirk dancing on his lips. The Inuzuka growled, standing out his seat.

"What are you trying to say, Uzumaki?"

"I'm not _trying_ to say anything. I've already said it. So sit down, nobody's going to fight you." Kiba snarled as the class started laughing at him and sunk back into his seat, glaring at the back of the blond's head. At that very moment, Iruka walked into the classroom.

"Alright class, I would like everyone to report outside. We'll start off with our accuracy exercises and then we will being learning our elements.

**XOX**

**Wow! I actually finished this I one day! I feel awesome! So yeah, review! You know you want to. Well Ja Ne for now! ^_^**


	6. Enter Naruto

**Title:** The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** _He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in._

**XOX**

**Man I am on a roll! Three chapters in three days? WOOT! Okay, I would like to thank TigrezzTail for reviewing from the start and, as of recent, xChaos Reborn-incognitoX for being a frequent reviewer and for asking lots of questions. Also, we have a guest who always leaves a review and was one of my first reviewers. I should dub them Guestie. ^_^ Reply time!**

**TigrezzTail: I've always thought Sasuke was rather smart. Having a genius for a brother is bound to rub off in some kind of way. As you may remember, Naruto and Sasuke first met a little before Itachi was promoted to ANBU. Now Kishimoto's Sasuke was alone after Itachi was promoted, having nothing to do but read and try to prove to his dad that he was worthy of his attention. However, my Sasuke has Naruto to talk to and share his thoughts with. Sasuke's need to prove to his father is lessened because he's receiving praise from elsewhere. So my Sasuke is not as blinded by the need for acceptance from his father. Also, Naruto is giving his opinion on what he should do and that is also swaying Sasuke's views on his father. Hope this clarifies things a little. ^_^**

**xChaos Reborn-incognitoX: *giggles* Details about Naruto's abilities will be about soon. Actually this chapter should begin to piece together the origins of his abilities. And, if you read my little tidbit above, Naru-chan has a slight influence on Sasuke already so he won't. Kyuubi will also play a part in this chapter. And Naruto's goals and such will be revealed as well.**

**Alright then! Chapter six of Child of Darkness is underway! Enjoy!**

_**Posted: February 12, 2013**_

**XOX**

**Chapter 6:**_ Enter Naruto_

**XOX**

Naruto had his hands shoved in his pockets as he trotted home, his mind wondering. Sasuke's brother had returned from a mission and was willing to spend sometime with his younger brother, leaving the blond with time all to himself, the Uchiha still not knowing about his new talent. He finally came to a stop in front of his rundown apartment building and frowned. Promptly turning around, the blond headed off to the training grounds.

"_Hey want to know something cool, Naruto?"_

"_Sure!"_

"_Don't tell anyone, but my mom was an assassin before she retired."_

"_Really? That's awesome! Did she have a partner?"_

"_Yeah, their name was the Red Death or something."_

"_Red Death? Never heard of them."_

"_Me either... Since I'll be with Aniki today, you should go look them up. Then we can gauge how awesome my mom was. Maybe she'll teach us something."_

"_Would she... would she really be willing to train me? I mean your dad seems mean enough already and I'm pretty sure he hates me."_

"_Yeah of course she would. My mom is nothing like my dad. She's really nice and wise. And she loves Itachi and I equally."_

"_Well... if you say so."_

Naruto abruptly stopped his trek to the training grounds, curiosity brewing in his being after that memory. _'The Red Death,'_ he thought. _'Sounds pretty bad ass if you ask me.'_ With a grin, the blond headed off to the library.

**(^_^)**

Naruto hummed to himself as he scrolled through the books, carefully looking over each of the titles to find what he was looking for. It was only after he henged into an older looking, brown haired teen that he actually managed to get into the library. There were lots of Chunin and such around the library at this hour and the last thing he needed was an angry mob chasing him around in broad daylight. The crowd would be way too much for him to handle. "Ah ha!" he exclaimed softly, pulling a book off the shelf, its title reading _Historical and Remarkable __Shinobi__ of Konoha_. He opened to the table of contents and found the page, flipping to it.

_Alias: The Red Death_

_Name: Kushina Uzumaki_

_Gender: Female_

_Rank: S _

_Partner: The Ebony Rose_

_Affiliations: Uzumaki Clan, Uzushiogakure_

_Age: Deceased_

_The Red Death was a young woman with ankle length red hair and royal blue eyes. She was known for having a very short temper and a remarkable fighting style with her twin katanas, Chi and Bikusen. Her name originated from her speed and how her victims saw red, both the color of their blood and her hair, before they died. She was also know for her skill in seals, that of which is expected with her linage. She passed on October 10, the day of the Kyuubi Attack._

Naruto closed the book, eyes wide as he ran over one piece of information over and over. _'Kushina Uzumaki... She was from my clan! Maybe she could be...'_ The blond frowned as the thought trailed off. There were several facts that pointed to the possibility that this woman, Kushina, could be his mother, or at least someone close to it. _'Well I can't jump to conclusions... and I seriously don't want to get my hopes up.'_ He stood, keeping the book tucked under his arm and went to go find another book, on the Kyuubi Attack. _'Wait a minute...'_

"_...the tailed beasts are just large amounts of chakra compressed together to form a being with a personality and cognitive thinking. With that being said, if you can't kill a Bijou, then what can you do with it?"_

He nodded to himself – this book on the Kyuubi Attack would defiantly help clear his confusion.

**XOX**

"Ah man... Am I tired..." the young blond muttered, stretching and sighing when he heard a crack in his back. Instead of coming straight home to read, the young child went off to train trying to keep the mystery of his status and linage off his mind. But now that he was home, with nothing to do except think. With a sigh, Naruto grabbed the two books out his small worn pouch, minding the weapons. "The Kyuubi Attack... I should start with the Kyuubi Attack." He shuffled to his room, setting the other book on the nightstand and curled up on under his covers to read under the moonlight.

_The Kyuubi Attack was a devastating attack on the village that killed thousands of shinobi and civilian alike. Not only did it take those lives but it took the life of Konoha's hero, Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash and Konoha's fourth Hokage. It was an unexpected attack, the large fox appearing out of nowhere by the north gates, just outside the village. A red alert was set off and chaos ensued. Although not known to many, Bijou like the Kyuubi cannot be killed, as they are not living beings with an actual life force but rather endless amounts of chakra. Similar to how the Ichibi is sealed within a teapot in Suna, the Kyuubi is typically sealed within a human being, known as a Jinchuuriki. The Kyuubi has only had two Jinchuuriki, Mito Uzumaki, the wife of the first Hokage, and Kushina Namikaze, the wife of fourth Hokage._

A small sense of apprehension came over the blond and he flipped pages, trying to find a biography of the fourth Hokage. He let out a deep breath and started reading again.

_Minato Namikaze was an outstanding man who single-handedly defeated the Kyuubi. He was Konoha's fourth Hokage and is known for his speed and efficiency in seals. Prior to becoming Hokage, he was the sensei to Obito Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, and Rin Nohara. Minato was married to a woman name Kushina, the Red Death, whom of which he had one child with, although the child is assumed to have died on the day of the Kyuubi Attack._

Naruto hurriedly flipped back to the information on the Kyuubi Attack.

_It is assumed that Kushina's seal weakened which lead the released of the Kyuubi. There are a number of ways for a seal such as the one who held the Kyuubi back to come loose. They include: removing the seal, undoing the seal, insanity, pregnancy..._

The word pregnancy jumped out at him and he felt dizzy as he continued to read.

_It was known by very few that Kushina was expecting a child to be due the day of the Kyuubi Attack. Although the young woman was protected by many seal master, one of which was her husband, the Kyuubi still escaped, taking advantage of Kushina's mental and physical weaknesses..._

Naruto started breathing hard, he mind whirled with the information he read. "I'm... I'm a Jinchuuriki. They can't kill a Bijou, it doesn't work... so they sealed it. Within me... why me?" He set the book down and tried to wipe the sweat off his face. "This Kushina, who was from the same clan as me, was pregnant... which is how the Kyuubi got out of her... That means the baby was born on October 10... my birthday. That means... I'm her... S-she's my..." Darkness clouded the blond's vision and he slumped over, unconscious.

**XOX**

**Boom! So yeah, no more development on Naruto's abilities. I was going to add more to this but I felt like that should go in the next chapter. So yeah, tell me what you guys think! And I know some people may think that Naruto's reaction is overdramatic but know that as an eight year old orphan to find out all of these things, his linage and his Jinchuuriki status, might be a little much. And... Kyuubi preys on negative emotions. ^_^ Also, Kushina's sword names are Blood and Vixen.**


	7. A Sense of Betrayal

**Title:** The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** _He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in._

**XOX**

**So I figured enough spam posting until today. Maybe a chapter tomorrow.**

**Wrath (Guest): Uh... I googled humoculis, which spell check is trying to correct, and nothing came up. But I did get referred to another word that meant a little human being. Dunno where you're going with that so let me know.**

**Nwspor: (I already sent you this in a message but the general people must know.) ****Oh yeah! I know that Hiruzen kept all that a secret. ^_^ However for my storyline to progress, I needed it to be disclosed. And it's not necessarily Kushina he kept a secret but the fact that Minato had any relations a secret. Although, none of that made practical sense to me, even though I understood why, because he ended up telling everyone of the appropriate age of Naruto's Jinchuuriki status but not of his linage even though he wanted Naruto to he a hero like Minato wanted. And after telling everyone of him being a Jinchuuriki, he might as well have thrown Naruto's linage out there too after he saw negative reaction. Except Suna, no other village just threw the information of their Jinchuuriki out there. Nobody even knew Kushina was a Jinchuuriki either. So this is how I felt it should have went.**

**Chapter seven! Woohoo! ^_^ Review! Also, on a side note, I want to hit 100 follows and favorites by the end of the month. As of right now, we have 71 follows and 54 favorites. I know we can do it! Maybe 30 reviews by the end of the month, which we have 22 of. Challenge accepted!**

_**Posted: February 22, 2013**_

**XOX**

**Chapter 7:**_ A Sense of Betrayal_

**XOX**

_Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop._

The sound was an awfully peaceful one to come to. His eyes lids fluttered. _'Where am I?'_ Blurry blue eyes opened and he blinked a few times, feeling the water around him. "...water?" He stood, letting the knee deep water cascade off his body without getting him wet. "Odd..." he mused, looking around. "How did I get here?" he asked aloud. "Where _is_ here anyway?"

"**Kit..."** He whipped around in the direction of the corridor where the whisper came from.

"Who's there?" he asked frantically. He was a _wee_ bit afraid – he couldn't get his shadows to move to save his life and that voice sound far from human. The voice chuckled, causing a shudder to rack his body.

"**Why don't you come find out? If you're man enough,"** the voice trailed off. He took a deep breath and started to walk slowly down the corridor. The water gradually thinned out as he got farther and farther down the corridor. Fear settled into the pit of his stomach as he came across a set of large steel gates, ominous red eyes shining from behind them. There was a slip of paper with the kanji for seal on it, making him come to one conclusion. **"Oh, so you actually came,"** the voice teased.** "And judging by how you're glaring at me, you know who I am."**

"The great nine-tailed fox... Kyuubi no Yoko." There was a low, grumbling chuckle that turned into full blown laughter, its boom rattling the whole room.

"**While you're the spitting image of your father, sans the whiskers of course, you defiantly are just like your mother."** Blue eyes widened in remembrance.** "And before you ask, yes I know your parents, your mother quite well in particular. But you know that. Of course, you read that book. I'm surprised they have a _book_ with that much information in it. At the same time, I'm not surprised that none of those dimwitted ningen discovered your full name and heritage. Everyone thinks the fourth Hokage and his beloved wife's child died that night even though you were much too conveniently born the same day with no parents. They're too blinded by their hate and grief."** Naruto relaxed slightly.

"Well nobody goes to the library anyway."

"**On top of that, there was no point telling them of your heritage – after all, what would it change? I'm pretty sure the old coot knows anyone with a brain can connect the dots if they were motivated enough. He's quite clever, I have to give it to him."** Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"What are you talking about? It would change everything!"

"**I'm willing to bet that he was planning on telling the village of your heritage but after getting such negative feedback about being my host, why bother? There would be people who would still want you dead, people who would worship the dirt you step on, and higher ups who weren't exactly friendly with your parents. The two feuding groups would possibly cause a civil war within the village. He also knew that since the villagers were too blind, blinded by their hate, for the _thought_ of you being related to their hero to even cross their minds, he just never said anything about it. Well, that would stand for your father. Besides the fact that a lot of people would connect you to him if he told of your mother, why make the information about her confidential? There are a lot of great ninja from here, and my first Jinchuuriki's status wasn't hidden. So he just let it play out like it did."** Naruto fell silence.

_'So the Yondiame is my father and the Red Death my mother... Why wouldn't he tell me?'_ he thought.

"**I don't know, kit. That's a good question."** He could see the fox grin sinisterly.** "Maybe you should... _talk _to him about it."**The fox fell into another round of laughter. The young blond ignored the fox's howling in favor for thinking, trying to fight off the feeling of betrayal that was spreading throughout his body.

_'Does he not trust me? I mean why would he? I'm the host of the thing that killed his successor and ruined his village!'_ His breaths started coming out in harsh pants. Kyuubi glanced up, blinking at the sight of the small blond falling into panic.

_**'I mean I know he has to be mentally scarred from his past and **_**maybe****_ all this information has overwhelmed him but geez. Damn humans.'_** Kyuubi huffed, standing up. **"Kit. Hey kit! There's no need for having a panic attack! Just go talk it over with the old man."**

"NO!" Kyuubi blinked again, snorting. "Why should I talk to him? He betrayed me! After all this time, being all nice and such, he was just acting!" Giant red eyes rolled, and snort was heard.

"**I never said that..."**

"You didn't have to... I mean... That's something he would tell me... Right?" Naruto blinked a few times as he walked up to the gates of the cage and slide down to the floor, leaning against one of the giant steel bars. Tears welded up in his eyes but he shook his head.

"**The better question would be why are _you_ trusting _me_? I mean, I'm just the demon who ran rampage on your village just eight years ago."**

"B-but finding out who my parents are through reading a book while he told me they abandoned me? That's just...!"

"**He was probably doing it to protect you."** Naruto glanced back into the cage, seeing a big black nose, a row of sharp teeth, and the same gleaming red eyes.

"To... protect me?"

"**Kids aren't exactly the best with keeping secrets, you know. And your whole front with being a loudmouthed idiot sure as hell didn't help. Remember what I said earlier about people probably still wanting you death for one reason or another?"** Silence took over again and Kyuubi sighed – this kid was a headache.

"I guess you're right," Naruto mused. "But as you also said, why should I trust you?" Red eyes widened before glaring at him.

"**Oh don't go and get all speculative on me after you were just all eyes and ears, brat."** Naruto laughed lightly, the hurt and betrayal fading away.

"Where are we?"

"**You're mindscape. It's like a representation of a part of the body or something of the sort projected by the imagination of the person." **

"So we're in my mind?"

"**No, idiot. We're in your gut. Which I thought would be obvious seeing as I'm here. Only people who can get to your mind are the Yamanaka and really good genjutsu users." **He finally started looking around the room, noticing the pipes running along the ceiling and walls. There a lot of big pipes, blue ones that faded to red as they got closer to Kyuubi's cage, and little red ones that traveled all across the walls. **"The red are obviously my chakra pathways and the blue are obviously yours. The ones fading from blue to red symbolize how I'm at the center of your chakra system and how my yokai is being converted to your chakra."**

"What about the black ones?" Both looked over at the pipes and Kyuubi raised an invisible eyebrow.

"**I dunno. They're new. Probably a result of your shadow manipulation or whatever." **Naruto nodded, the statement making sense. **"And before you ask me any questions about that, don't. I'm tired. Now leave, brat."** Naruto frowned but nonetheless stood up and started walking away.

"Thanks, I guess," he called over his shoulder before he disappeared from sight. Kyuubi snorted, sharp teeth pulling back into a small smirk.

"**Brat."**

**XOX**

**And that's the chapter! Kinda lame to me. Not much really happened. But at least Naruto has met the Kyuubi now... If that's really a plus. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and the story overall. Not a lot of love for this story but I guess that's expected. I fell off the face of the earth for about a year. _ Whoops. Review people! And recommend this to your friends! I have no idea when I'll get the next chapter up, even though it says tomorrow at the top _, but it should be soon. I really like typing this story! Next chapter is back to the academy to start with elemental manipulation. ^_^ Ja Ne everyone! **


	8. A Piece of Paper?

**Title:**The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** _A rare power bestowed upon him, tainted by the hate he was surrounded by. He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in. Grey!Naruto EventuallyExtremelyPowerful!Naruto_

**XOX**

**OMG! Evil-Pain gave us a whooping five reviews! AND WE MADE IT TO 30 REVIEWS! WOOT! We have 31! Maybe 40 by the end of the month? On top of that, we have 61 favorites and 81 followers. ^_^ We're getting there! Oh, and a double post today. *sheepish look* Chapter 7 was actually supposed to be posted last night but I fell asleep. Whoops. Righto, on to reply time! (I didn't do all the reviews for chapter 6 so I'll do those too!)**

**evil-pain: I'm just gonna answer all your reviews at once. YES! No NaruHina! Naruto and Sasuke will remain friends for sure. Weeeeeell I'm doing a pairing. However, I can't really do NaruTen 'cause they don't really look like a couple to me. I already have Naruto's pairing planned.**

**clizasanimeluver98: -grins- Hope I spelled your name right by the way. And yeah I hate cliffhangers yet I have a lot of them in my story. So here's a question to everyone: should I do longer chapters? The wait wouldn't increase or anything since I type quite fast. **

**myrddin767: ^_^ Glad ya like the story! And I'll be sure to not disappoint. **

**war12345: Thank you very much! And will do!**

**prettyflower34: Yeah kinda but that works its way right into my story, seeing as Naruto is always left in the dark, hence the title. ^_^ As for the action… well I dunno how much action an eight will get… Soooooooo I've been planning a time skip!**

**TigrezzTail: Yesh! Poor Naru-chan! Oh by the way, thank you for sticking with me all this time! I was looking back at my old stories and saw your reviews. Made my day that I still had someone with me even though I fell off the face of the earth. Anyone else who was here before, let me know so I can give you a shout out!**

**So yeah, chapter 8. COMPUTER! KEYBOARD! ACTION! LET'S GO! **

_**Posted: February 23, 2013 (It was 3 minutes past midnight -.- and then I fell asleep, so ignore the double post thingie.)**_

**XOX**

**Chapter 8:**_ A Piece of Paper?_

**XOX**

Iruka sighed as he was faced yet again with the task of quieting his… 'angels'. He suppressed his urge to yell – it wouldn't look good on his record if he kept this up. _'Remember the resolution you made before the ceremony, Iruka,'_ he thought. _'No more yelling.'_ The Chunin took a deep breath and let it out his nose. Suddenly his eyebrow started twitching wildly and his head snapped up. "SHUT UP!" The children scattered and sat down. Iruka heaved another sigh and relaxed, giving his class a once over. "Now then, as I announced at the reopening ceremony, the regime has been upped. So today, we will start with elemental manipulation. Because of that," he gestured to the door, "I have invited four shinobi to demonstrate." Sakura's hand shot up. "Yes Sakura?"

"Sensei, why did you only get four shinobi to demonstrate if there're five elements?" the young girl asked? Iruka twitched.

"I was getting to that, Sakura. Now if you would all make a _single_ file line and head outside, I'll continue my explanation there." Of course, the children didn't listen to their sensei, the opportunity of meeting awesome ninja and learning new techniques fueling their excitement. Iruka grumbled – he didn't know why he bothered anymore. The students spaced out as they ran outside, sitting down on different patches of grass. Sasuke grinned and waved at his brother and waved back, a small smile dancing on his lips. Alongside the Uchiha genius was the infamous copycat Nin, the Hokage, and his son. Naruto mock saluted at the old leader, earning a chuckle and a salute back. Iruka stood in front of the four shinobi and smirk on his face. "As you may or may not know, starting from the right, these fine talented men after, Uchiha Itachi, Hatake Kakashi, you all know the Hokage, and Sarutobi Asuma, lord Hokage's son." Each of the shinobi nodded to their names. "There are five main elements that just about any shinobi can manipulate; Earth, Wind, Fire, Lightning, and Water. When we shinobi utilize them, they are Doton, Futon, Katon, Raiton, and Suiton. The earth absorbs water, water extinguishes fire, fire absorbs wind to make itself stronger, wind cancels lightning, and lightning destroys earth." The ninja-in-training were surprisingly quiet, the dynamics of the workings of jutsu fascinating them. "Each of these elements comes with their own disadvantages however. Lightning and fire are hard to tame, wind is hard to grasp due its abundance, water falls apart easily and is easy disturbed, and earth has no real offense. At the same time, lightning can be used to disable, water pressure can drown and severely injure, earth is good for defense, wind can be extremely sharp and unnoticeable, and fire is hazardous enough."

"So it's like Yin and Yang!"

Iruka chuckled and nodded. "Each shinobi has at least one elemental affinity. When a person specializes in an element, it is much easier for them to understand and work with that element. It's like a calling, per se. Because this is the land of fire, we have an abundance of Katon users as well as a clan who specifies in the element – the Uchiha clan. On the flip side, Futon is weak to Katon, which explains our lack of Futon users in Konoha. Suiton, which cancels Katon, is also rare here in Konoha. I'll stop here and let our shinobi demonstrate." The Hokage stepped back first flying through handsigns at expert speed before slamming his hands on the ground.

"Doton: Doryuheki!" Instantly, a stone wall shot up behind the aged Hokage, standing awfully tall. The children burst into small cheers and chatters of excitement. Hiruzen stopped channeling his chakra and let the wall sink back into the ground. The students clapped grins and happily in response

"Hokage-sama, if you may," Itachi quipped politely. Hiruzen nodded, standing back with the other demonstrators. The elder raven stepped away from the others flying through his own handsigns. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" A large fireball illuminated the sky, earning cheers of approval from the students. Naruto snickered and nudged his friend.

"Can_ you_ do that?" Sasuke glared at him.

"Of course I can. It's my clan's prized jutsu. I just can't hold it that long." Sasuke smirked. "What can _you_ do?" Naruto blinked, realizing he had no experience with elemental manipulation. Instead of replying, the blond stuck his tongue at his raven friend, pouting. The fireball died out with a lack of chakra being channeled to it. Itachi silently stalked back over to the group, motioning for Kakashi to go next. The lazy then pointed over to the sole wind user, who sighed and rolled his eyes. The younger Sarutobi pulled out an oddly shaped set of knives, slipping his fingers in the designated wholes. He lightly swung his right hand and a deep groove appeared in the academy grounds, kicking up a small tuff of dirt. When the dirt cleared, there was a crescent shaped cut in the ground. The students made noises of approval. Finally, with no one else to go, the grey haired sighed, stepping away from the group after Asuma had returned. A made a few handsigns and held his hand down towards the ground.

"Raikiri!" Lightning cackled in the grey haired man's hand, creating a small circle around him. There were many shouts of excitement at this and Kakashi canceled his attack, though staying in his place away from the group. Iruka stepped back in.

"How there are instances where a shinobi may have two affinities. Even though a shinobi may have only one affinity, they can still learn more than one elemental release," the Chunin explained. "Kakashi, take it away." The scarecrow-like man eye smiled and tossed a bottle of water in the air nonchalantly. He instantly flashed through another set of handsigns.

"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" The bottle burst into pieces as the water flowed and swayed to form a small water dragon that circled Kakashi slowly. Iruka quipped in again.

"When two elements complement each other, like water and lightning, you can combine the two to make an even more powerful jutsu." Bolts of blue lightning started to dance about the dragon, keeping the children amused. Kakashi stopped his chakra flow and let the water splash to the ground. "Now that you all have an idea what each of the elements look like, here's how you find your affinity." He started passing out pieces of paper. The students stood and starting eying the paper with confusion.

"Iruka-sensei, this is just a stupid, ordinary piece of paper! What is it supposed to tell us?" Hiruzen chuckled, his eyes zeroing on the little boy.

"Patience now, young one. I'm sure your sensei will explain in a moment." The boy's eyes widened and he flushed in embarrassment.

"H-hai, Hokage-sama." Iruka smiled as he finished passing out the slips.

"As I was saying," Iruka said, staring pointedly at the young child who interrupted. "Here is how you find your affinity. This paper is special, cut from the trees created by the Shodaime and his Mokuton, which stemmed from his kekkai genkai. Therefore, this paper is highly reactive to chakra and given a certain reaction, it will tell you of your affinity. Now then, one by one I want you channel your chakra into that paper. If nothing happens, don't worry. It just means that your body is still developing and your chakra systems have to yet to choose an affinity. If it splits in half, you have wind, if it burns, you have fire, if it becomes damp, you have water, if it crinkles, you have lightning, and if it crumbles to dust, you have earth. Now then, starting over here…" Naruto watched as all the other students started getting results and he grinned, ready for his turn.

"I don't see what all the excitement is for. I already know I'm a Katon user. It's in my blood," Sasuke said. Naruto grunted, glancing over at his killjoy of a friend.

"Well just because you know your affinity doesn't mean everyone else does," the blond said with a grin. "In fact, you go before me. I want to go last." Sasuke rolled his eyes and shrugged. Iruka smiled at the raven, who nodded and channeled his chakra. The piece of paper crinkled before bursting into fire, startling the three males.

"Sasuke," said Iruka, a brush of awe coating his tone. "You have two affinities! Not even I have two affinities!" In result, Sasuke got shouts of jealousy from the other males of his year and high pitched squeals from his, well, fangirls. Amy stood in front of the crowd of girls, a smirk pulling at her lips.

"Of_ course_ Sasuke-kun has two affinities. He's the best." The purple haired girl slid up next to the younger Uchiha. "And that's why he needs a strong woman by his side." Ino growled and shouted out.

"Amy, you don't even have _one_ affinity, unlike the rest of us." The class roared with laughter and the girl flushed as pink as Sakura's hair, moving away from her object of affections in embarrassment. Iruka quieted them down and motioned towards the last student to go.

"Well Naruto, it's your turn." There was muttering among the students.

"_Oh this will be interesting."_

"_Yeah, I bet he'll have no affinity."_

"_Heh, like you Amy?"_

"_Shut UP!"_

Naruto huffed and channeled his chakra in the paper. It split clean in half and floated to the ground. Iruka smiled and opened his mouth but the two halves of the paper split in halves themselves. One by one, each small square reacted. One caught fire, one crinkled, one became damp, and the last square crumbled. Slowly, each element turned black and rose from the ground waving back and forth. Naruto's eyes widened. _'Like my shadow,'_ the blond thought. Hiruzen narrowed his eyes.

'_There's only two other times I've seen something similar to this. In Mito-sama and Kushina-chan… If I remember correctly though, both of theirs reacted and turned white. Those two must have some type of special chakra, which was why Kushina was chosen to become the Jinchuuriki. From what I can see, this same special chakra has been passed on to Naruto-kun. But why are the wisps black and shadowy instead of white…?'_

The rest of the yard was struck into shocked into silence. Iruka gulped. "Amazing…! I've never seen anything like this!"

"What does that mean, Iruka-sensei?" a random student asked.

"Naruto has an affinity for all the main elements known to man. It's like he's one with nature itself!" Hiruzen's eyes widened.

'_That's it! The Uzumaki clan was famous for its sensor abilities. They were one with nature, so being such positive people, always happy and joyful, their special chakra ended up white. Mito and Kushina had husbands and family and friends to keep them happy and positive, even with their burdens. Naruto however,'_ Hiruzen thought, a frown overcoming his face. _'Naruto has none of that. In fact the exact opposite, he's hated and alone. Those negative, dark emotions have changes his Uzumaki light into darkness... Oh Naruto-kun, Minato, Kushina… how I've failed you.'_

"That's an outrage! Sasuke-kun should have all five not stupid Naruto-baka!" The crowd of students started shouting things of agreement. Naruto snorted and grinned, clasping his hands behind his head.

"Don't get all mad at me! You're just jealous because I'm awesome." Kiba stepped forward.

"You're the dobe of our year for a _reason_, Uzumaki. This doesn't change anything." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Of course it doesn't. Even though we _are_ starting element training soon. This'll be my strong point." Shikamaru sighed.

"Troublesome. Naruto, regardless of your affinities, it doesn't matter if you don't have the chakra reserves to perform the jutsu. Judging from your failed attempts at Bunshin, your reserves are probably really small," the lazy genius summarized. Kiba smirked at Naruto's crestfallen face.

"Shikamaru's right! Once a dobe, always a dobe, huh?"

"Actually Shikamaru-kun, no matter how flawless that conclusion is for an academy student, you're wrong," the Hokage said. The lazy Nara sighed and sat on the ground, laying back to watch the cloud, offering a small 'troublesome' as a reply. "Bunshin is a very basic technique, given its E ranking. It is a test for you academy young ones because your chakra systems are still being developed. Bunshin require a very minimum amount of chakra, because it's so easy. Typically if an academy student can't perform the Bunshin, Shikamaru's conclusion would be correct. However," Hiruzen trailed off. "Naruto's clan is known for their large chakra reserves and control over the five elements."

"The Uzumaki clan is not one of Konoha's clans!"

"Exactly," Itachi said. "The Uzumaki clan had a large island to themselves, Uzushiogakure." There were gasps that echoed all across the yard. "Hokage-sama, if I may." The old leader nodded, knowing the young protégé could explain it better. "Iruka-san if you would turn around please, to show the children the Uzumaki clan symbol. As you can see children, each Konoha Chunin and up has the Uzumaki spiral somewhere on their uniform. This was used to symbolize the pact and alliance between Konoha and Uzushio. The Uzumaki clan is also a distant relative of the Senju clan, the clan of our village's founders. The relationship is what caused the alliance. In the Second Great Shinobi War, the Uzumaki clan was taken down. However, they didn't go down without a fight. They weakened the opposing forces enough for Konoha to defeat them. So while you bash Naruto for being a 'nobody', his clan is what kept Konoha from destruction many years ago." Kiba grumbled.

"What does it matter? They're all dead anyway," the Inuzuka muttered. Naruto glared at him.

"I'm still here, dipshit." The brown haired boy growled.

"That's it, Uzumaki! You're in for the ass kicking for your life!"

"Bring it on!"

"That's enough boys," Iruka interrupted. "Now then, I'm sure all of you want to get home to your parents and show them your new abilities. So after lunch, you all can go home IF!" he shouted at the end. "If you calmly enter the building and take your seats. Now thank these four for teaching you guys today."

"THANK YOU!" the class shouted together before trailing into the building. Itachi motioned Sasuke over and poked him in the forehead.

"Father will be proud of your accomplishment." The younger Uchiha glared at the ground, the thought of his father dampening his mood. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Naruto staring at the two, waiting for his friend.

"No he won't. He'll probably keep comparing me to you."

"You seem to be forgetting that I only have one affinity, Otouto. Fire, just like the rest of our clan – even father's sole affinity is fire."

"But you can copy jutsu with your Sharingan." The raven lowered his tone to a whisper. "And you have the Mangekyou. Nobody else has that."

"And you seem to be forgetting you've unlock your Sharingan too. Even though it's at the lowest level, I can train you this evening if you'd like. Plus I'm pretty sure I've got some Raiton jutsu up my sleeve. How's that?" Sasuke seemed to beam at the thought of training with his brother. He didn't notice Naruto's gaze darken, envy dancing in his eyes. The blond turned away and started stalking towards the academy. "And surely if you'd like, I can train your blond friend too." Naruto stopped walking peering over his shoulder. Itachi smiled at him and Sasuke smirked.

"As soon as he stops pouting, Aniki." The blond whipped around.

"I'M NOT POUTING!" Sasuke rolled his eyes.

"Sure you aren't." Naruto grinned at the two brothers, sticking his tongue out at the youngest. He grabbed his friend and started dragging him towards the academy, waving over his shoulder at the elder raven, one thought on his mind.

'_I have a meeting with the old man.'_

**XOX**

**And cut! So this was one of the longer chapters – a whopping 3,071 and counting. So this was just a little sneak peek at some more of Naruto's abilities and a peek at his past. Also his developing relationship with Sasuke, and a little one with Itachi. So yeah. REVIEW! THIS IS IMPORTANT! Okay so I figured the summary is kinda... bland. So I've been wondering if you guys could come up with a new summary. A dramatic one. I have something in mind, might have changed it, but I'd like suggestions. Ja Ne!**


	9. The Bond of Brothers

**Title: **The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:** _A rare power bestowed upon him, tainted by the hate he was surrounded by. He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in. Grey!Naruto EventuallyExtremelyPowerful!Narut__o_

**XOX**

**I'M SORRY EVERYONE! There was a mix up where chapter 10 was here! SO SORRY! Anyway, a****s you can see the summary has changed. Hopefully, this will attract more readers. Anyway, WE MADE IT TO 40! In fact, we said fuck 40 and went to 47! Love you guys! Also, 77 favorites and 99 follows. Almost there! I still need suggestion on the summary because In all honesty, I want more people to see my ideas and be entertained by them. But you guys are enough for this girl! Shout out to jtcr for the 7 reviews! Thanks! Reply Time!**

**Stallion6 of Deviantart: Ha! ^_^ I wouldn't be surprised if I decided to kill him off. Not yet though. **

**TigrezzTail: Thanks! ^_^ Kinda came up with it on the fly while I was looking up the Uzumaki clan on the Naruto Wiki.**

**Somedayisours: Yesh, your reviews make me very happy! And the more I get, the faster the chapters come out! I like your name by the way. ^_^ It's cute.**

**Myrddin767: He will but I dunno if I wanna go into detail bout it. Seems like it'd be a little boring. 'Cause I know I don't like training chapters.**

**Evil-pain: Thank you much! (Yes I say it like that.)**

**Prettyflower34: Yesh! This is the one story I write that I really want Naruto and Sasuke's relationship to be solid, 'cause in the manga, those two are just ridiculously bipolar when it comes to each other, especially Sasuke. And no problem! I like answering questions! Like I'm having a conversation. ^_^ To answer your final question, yes Itachi is going to leave... (insert dramatic awing in the background) BUT! As always, I have my own little twist to it. Might be in this chapter.**

**Jtcr: (to all your reviews) Well, I'm not really a NaruTen shipper. _ They just don't interact enough for me. And we barely seen her in the anime/manga. Yes, dark Naru is always awesome. You reviewers always make me feel better bout my lack of rereading my work. ^_^ Sasuke fighting Fugaku = epic. Well it was the day of the ceremony and Iruka has always seemed like the head of the academy to me so I imagined him working with the other parents and such during that moment. And thank you much!**

**War12345: Thanks, man!**

**Guestie: Thank you! ^_^**

**Lupe Jiminez: Will do!**

**So yeah, more people equal extra happy authoress. ^_^ Enjoy!**

_**Posted: February 25, 2013 (I almost forgot this! Whoops!)**_

**XOX**

**Chapter 9: **_The Bond of Brothers_

**XOX**

Naruto yawned, rubbing his eyes tiredly as he walked through the alleyways to get to the Hokage Tower, the moon high in the sky. _'I__tachi-sensei is a slave driver just like his brother,'_ he thought, grumbling. Normally, he would have gone to his apartment after his grueling training session with the Uchiha brothers, but the curiosity to ask the Hokage what he knew was killing him. Soon, he arrived at the red tower, climbing the steps to get to the Hokage's office. He huffed silently as the brown hair secretary glared at him but let him knock on the door.

"_Come in."_ He twisted the doorknob and stepped in, his tiredness and soreness disappearing as questions assaulted his brain. "Oh, Naruto-kun. What a pleasant surprise." The blond shuffled into the seat before Hiruzen's desk and stared hard at the wizened leader. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"I want to know what you know about my parents and my clan," he said softly. Hiruzen's eyes widened.

"I can tell you what I know about the Uzumaki clan but no one knows who your parents are. They disappeared when you were born. I told you that."

"You're lying. You wouldn't know where I got my abilities from if you didn't know who my parents were. You wouldn't be able to be so sure I'm an Uzumaki if you didn't know who they were." Hiruzen frowned, trying to form a lie. "And I know the answer to your question." The blond got a nodded from the old man, a notion for him to continue. "The Kyuubi can't be killed because it's a mass of chakra, so they sealed it. It was sealed in me at the cost of the Yondaime's life."

"Yes, that is quite right, Naruto-kun. Now about your parents," Hiruzen begin. Naruto cut him off.

"Stop lying to me!" he yelled. "I know who they are! Sasuke told me his mom worked the Red Death and we couldn't figure out who she was. So I went to go look it up myself. I found out her name was Kushina Uzumaki, the only other Uzumaki in Konoha except the First Hokage's wife. The book said she died in the Kyuubi attack. So I looked up the details of Kyuubi attack and found out the Fourth Hokage's wife was named Kushina as well and that her alias was the Red Death." The blond sighed and lowered his eyes to floor. "I started hyperventilating and passed out. Guess who I met then?" Hiruzen frowned, crossing his fingers over his mouth.

"The Kyuubi."

"That's right. And the fox told me everything. How my mom was the previous Jinchuuriki, how you told the villagers that I was a Jinchuuriki but didn't have the balls to back it up with my heritage, and how it was all according to your plan."

"Naruto…"

"How could you! You know what they were going to do to me! Yet you just let it happen!"

"I made a law that stated that no one could mention your Jinchuuriki status."

"And it did _NOTHING_! I get beat on my birthday every year! Even though they can't say anything, they still call me a demon, a monster, a _murderer_! And they tell their kids to stay away from me too! Surely, you see all of this?"

"…Your father wanted you to be seen as a hero… He and your mother both knew it wouldn't happen, but I wanted to believe that it would. After I saw what happened, I swore to myself that I would tell you when you became a Chunin," Hiruzen said, sighing.

"But you always told me they disappeared! All those night, I dreamed of them returning to claim me… but it always turned into a nightmare, where they hated and scorned me, just like the villagers. You could have at least said that you'd tell me when I got older… Maybe I wouldn't feel so alone."

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kun." A knot formed in Naruto throat, making his eyes sting with tears – he didn't want to accept the old man's apology. Those little words would never soothe the ache he felt when he thought about his parents.

"No…" he whispered.

"No?"

"NO! You're not sorry! I won't accept it."

"Naruto…"

"No! I just want my inheritance. I know it's here. Then I'm going home." Hiruzen stared at the little blond Jinchuuriki a long while before sighed and standing. He shuffled over to the painting of the Yondaime and pulled a small safe from behind it and set it in the blonde's arms.

"It's a blood seal, so a bit of your blood will open it right up." The old man smiled but the blond just stood from his chair and stalked to the door, twisting it open. "Naruto, please don't be mad… I'm sorry." Naruto just stepped out and slammed the door shut. Hiruzen sighed and stared out the window at the moon, shining her light on the village. _'Minato, Kushina, I'm so sorry… I'll try my hardest to keep him in the village, if it's the last thing I do.'_

**XOX**

Sasuke waved goodbye to his blond friend as he headed home from school. He was slightly giddy to get home, seeing as he hadn't hung out with his elder brother in a few days due to a mission. Granted, he saw the other raven yesterday but Itachi was already in bed for a nap by the time he got home from his usual training session with Naruto. _'Maybe he can teach me something new he learned while he was gone,'_ he thought, picking up the pace. When he left the academy, the sun was setting but now the full moon was rising in the sky, bathing everything in an eerie. He shuddered slightly as a cool breeze brushed over his skin. Sasuke soon reached the Uchiha district, entering through the gate. He blinked – all the lights were off in the whole district. _'How odd... I hope everyone is alright.'_ Another freezing breeze rolled in and he got a whiff of something. "...Blood?" He looked around frantically. _'What's going on here? There shouldn't be some much blood to where I can smell it.'_ The raven took off running towards his compound, his recent training boosting his speed. He slowed down as soon as he reached his home, slipping his shoes off and padding silently through the hallways. _'It's pitch black in here.' _

Sasuke closed his eyes and let his chakra flow, opening his eyes to see a slightly brighter setting. The sound of something metallic hitting flesh startled him and he speed walked to the meeting room, as to not make a lot of noise.

"_Itachi... Please don't..."_ a voice sobbed. Red eyes widened and his breathing started to quicken – that sounded awfully like his mother. He held a shaking hand up to the door handle only to freeze.

_'Come on, Uchiha! You can do this! It's just a door,'_ he tried to convince himself, but he knew it didn't work. He was terrified about what was on the other side of said door.

"_Mother... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_ That was enough to get his body in action. He burst through the door, coming upon a sight that made his blood freeze and his heart thump loudly.

His brother, his beloved older brother, was standing above his bound mother, a bloodied katana poised to decapitate her. Beside her was a disemboweled heap that he identified as his father. His eyes started stinging and his vision blurred but he blinked away the tears.

"Sasuke... Run away! Escape while you can!" Mikoto yelled frantically, tears and blood smeared across her face. Itachi brought the sword higher above his head.

"No! DON'T! PLEASE, ITACHI, DON'T DO IT!" the younger raven screamed. Itachi seemed to pause for a moment before bringing the sword to his side.

"Otouto... You weren't supposed to see this," Itachi said, an abnormally cold edge on his voice. Sasuke gulped, letting the tears run down his face.

"Itachi... Why? Why'd you do this?"

"I don't have to explain myself to you, Sasuke," Itachi sneered. Sasuke growled and rushed his elder brother only to punched in the stomach hard enough to go flying out the door, into the wall of the hallway. Sasuke gritted his teeth in pain but stood back up running out the front door, forgetting his shoes. He turned in circles, trying to spot his murderer of a brother.

"SHOW YOURSELF!"

"I'm right here." Sasuke whipped behind him and glared. "Does this make you hate me, little brother? Does it make you _loathe_ my existence?"

"Of course it does, you jackass!" he yelled staring defiantly into his brother's Mangekyou with his own, newly developed two tomoe Sharingan.

"Then foster that hatred and when you have eyes same as mine, come hunt me down and kill me."

"Stop talking bullshit! Why did you do it!? HUH!?" Itachi sighed and closed his eyes. He reopened them and stared straight at his brother.

"To test my strength." Sasuke glared hard at his brother, angry and hurt making his heart ache and his head throb. His eyes widened.

"You're lying..."

"What do you mean I'm lying? Did I not just slaughter our whole clan in one night? Do you not see the blood stains _everywhere_? Are you in denial?!"

"I think you're the one in denial, Aniki. I know you better than anyone else and you wouldn't lose your cool over me questioning you if this was a true attempt at massacre without a purpose." The younger raven's eyes faded back to their original onyx, exhaustion making him shake and tear up. "And, a-and you're crying!" Itachi's own eyes widened before falling to half mass, onyx taking over his irises. The two brothers sat in silence, body racking sobs lowering Sasuke to his knees. "Why'd y-you do it?" There was a pregnant pause before Itachi spoke.

"...It was a mission."

"...A mission?" Itachi sighed heavily and sank to his own knees, the weight of what he'd done finally taking its toll.

"The clan was planning a coup d'état, which was being led by father. The clan was arrogant – because we were the other founding clan and none of the Senju were around, they felt as though they should run the village. I told the Hokage because I didn't know what else to do. But then father, he came to me and told me that I was to lead the coup and that I would make the clan proud... If the clan went through with the coup, there would be war - a civil war. I've lived through war and it's terrible! The deaths, the pain, the grieving, the _memories... _I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. By this time, Hokage-sama had demanded that the clan be executed. I couldn't bare the thought of the coup getting out to others. Our clan name would shamed forever and it would all fall back on you. So I offered to do it myself – they wouldn't expect anything because I agreed to lead the coup. I was hesitant – I'm strong but would I be able to take down a whole clan? But the thought came – what would they do with you? I know father hates you and he would kill you and take your eyes without hesitation. So I waited until you were at school to do it... So by the time you returned home, I would be long gone and I wouldn't have to meet you face to face..." A sad smile overtook Itachi's face, his own tears streaming silently. "You're my little brother, Sasuke. I couldn't and I can't lose you... The one and only weakness to this cold hard façade I put on everyday for this damned clan!" Itachi pulled Sasuke close in a hug, more emotion portrayed in the contact than the two could ever express in words. "So I killed them all, so I would know they wouldn't do anything to you." They stayed like that for a moment before Sasuke sighed.

"Where are you going to go? I know you can't stay here."

"To an organization that happens to be hunting your friend down."

"Naruto?" Itachi nodded.

"I don't believe he told you his little secret, huh?" Sasuke's eyes widened.

"_That's funny, 'cause I made a decision like that a while back."_

"_What for?"_

"_When I figure out why, I'll tell you."_

"No... no he didn't. He said he didn't know himself but he knew something was up and that he'd tell me when he knew." Itachi grasped Sasuke by shoulders, staring into his eyes with seriousness.

"Now Sasuke, no matter what Naruto tells you, I want you to accept him." Sasuke blinked in confusion.

"Of course I'll accept him. He's my best friend."

"That's not always the case. Fear makes us do crazy things. You know how lonely Naruto is right? He had no friends until you and no family at all. And the village hated him for something out of everyone's control. That boy... He's been through a lot so I just want you to accept him no matter what. I'm sure he'd still accept you after your clan almost started a civil war in the village, would he not?" Sasuke nodded. "Alright then. Now I have to get out of here." He pulled his brother into one last embrace, holding on tightly like he'd never see the young raven again. "I love you, Sasuke."

"'Love you too, Aniki," Sasuke muttered into Itachi Anbu uniform, feeling the tears come on again.

"Be strong, for the both of us, little one." Itachi pinched a nerve in Sasuke's neck, the last the little raven seeing is the smiling face of his brother running back into the compound.

**XOX**

**DAMN! So there it is, the Uchiha Massacre! Excuse the mistakes – I had no time to go back and proofread because I was excited! (Edit: I fixed them! ^_^ There may still be a few I missed though.) I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I like writing it! Review! Ja Ne!**


	10. Secrets

**Title: **The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** T (most likely going to be changed)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:**_ A rare power bestowed upon him, tainted by the hate he was surrounded by. He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in. Now he's going to rock the Shinobi World by becoming a world renown SSS-rank ninja... Get ready. Grey!Naruto EventuallyExtremelyPowerful!Naruto DarkFic_

**XOX**

**Hey guys! I'M SO SORRY! Chapter 10, this chapter, was where chapter 9 was. I'm so sorry! ****NEW SUMMARY! This was actually spurred by a comment made on this chapter! ^_^ ****There was no chapter yesterday because I fell asleep before I could start. *sheepish grin* However! I had a snow day today! So no school! Which means I can type to my hearts content. Also, WE HIT 100 FOLLOWERS! WOOT! In fact we have 111! And we have ****81 favorites and 56 reviews. Seeing as the end of the month is tomorrow, maybe 90 favorites, 120 follows, and 60 reviews? I can only hope. ****I noticed we didn't get too much love for the last chapter but whatever. ****ASLO! Our story is in a community now! HURRAY! The community is called Chaotic Disorder. ****On a side note, we have 9,009 views and counting! Although not a lot of people keep reading after the first three chapters... guess they don't like it... -sad face- On ANOTHER side note, I changed my name. Miss Dark Authoress Blackrose! It's it GENUIS?! Anyway! ****Reply Time!**

**Guestie: Yes! This allows for a lot more stuff I can do with Sasuke since he's not hellbent on revenge. ****And Sasuke was a gullible child in the manga, no offense to Kishimoto-sensei, so I think that's why he bought it. And in this chapter, you will ^_^ And yes! I hate when someone makes a grave mistake and Naruto's all forgiving.**

**War12345: No problem!**

**Lupe Jiminez: I will, no problem!**

**Demenciae: Awwww thanks! And I got praise from another someone in another country! I feel special :3**

**Stallion6 of Deviantart: Ikr? When they did the whole Uchiha Massacre thing, I had feeling there was more to it. I mean, it was so spur of the moment and the fact that there wasn't a big sense where the Hokage sent a bunch of ninja after made me suspicious. **

**Evil-Pain: Yep! Allows for more of my creativity to flow.**

**Super Guestie: Hehehe you always leave that comment ^_^ Thank you much!**

**Prettyflower34: OMG I made you cry? O.o I never knew I could do that! Yesh, Sasuke will accept Naru-chan. Yeah and plan on keeping Team 7 together because they're a funny team to me. ****I dunno what I'm gonna do with Sakura though. And your last question, yes Sasuke will get bitten and leave but Naruto's going with him. That way, I can do the timeskip and come back with them in the same spot for the most part.**

**Myrddin767: Ah ha! You caught me! Yes I plan on doing something with Mikoto. That's why I had Itachi run back into the compound instead of just disappearing. Good Job!**

_**Posted: February 27, 2013**_

**XOX**

**Chapter 10:**_ Secrets_

**XOX**

"_Be strong, for the both of us, little one."_

Sasuke jerked awake with a yell, hissing when bright white light assaulted his eyes. He screwed them shut and slowly opened them again, blinking. _'Where am I?'_ he thought, taking in his surroundings. "Oh, the hospital." He plopped back on the uncomfortable pillow and sighed. Not long after, a doctor and his nurse came rushing into his room, others behind them. "Um, hello. Can I help you?" He coughed, finally realizing how parched he was.

"Uchiha-sama! Here, a cup of water," the nurse said, passing over the cup. He drunk it all in one go, sighing in content. "Hokage-sama!" The crowd of medical staff parted when their leader walked into the room. The old man smiled at him but he couldn't find it in himself to smile back.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," he mumbled.

"Really? No headaches or dizziness when you sit up?"

"No, none of that," he said. _'Aniki said it was a mission, and Anbu missions are top secret, so maybe I shouldn't tell the Hokage I know,'_ he thought. "What happened?" A grave look took over the Hokage's face.

"Sasuke, don't you think you should wait until after you're well?"

"I'm fine, I just want to know why I'm here."

"Very well," Hiruzen said. He motioned for the staff to leave the room, which they did slowly. "Now Sasuke... Your clan was murdered a week ago, by your brother, Itachi Uchiha."

"...Everybody?" The Hokage nodded.

"Just about. We couldn't find your mother's body. It's safe to assume that had a fight and he disposed of her. She _was_ a famed Kunoichi before she retired." This surprised the young raven.

_'That's right! Aniki never killed Kaa-chan. So he took her with him.'_ He stared mutely at the sheets of his hospital bed, trying to hide the smile that wanted bloom on his face. "I hate him..."

Hiruzen sighed. "I understand, Sasuke-kun."

"When can I leave here?"

"We'll discharge you now if you'd like. Would you like me to get you an apartment?"

"Yeah... What are they going to do with the Uchiha district?"

"Well, you're the sole heir to the clan now. It's up to you."

"...I want to keep it. After it's cleaned up I want to move back in there." Hiruzen nodded. "How long have I been here?"

"A week. We've deduced that you were put into a Sharingan induced temporary coma. You've had quite a few of your classmates try to visit you."

_'Fangirls,'_ the young raven thought, rolling his eyes. "If we're done, can I leave?" The Hokage nodded with a smile.

"I'll get the nurse in here right away," he said, standing from his chair. Right before he walked out the door, he turned around. "Now Sasuke-kun, if you ever need someone to talk to, I'm always in my office." Sasuke nodded and the aged leader left. Sasuke sighed and laid back down, his hands in his lap.

_'I need to talk to Naruto. I want to know what Aniki was talking about,'_ he thought. The nurse from before entered the room, and smiled at him, a plate of food and a set of clothes in his arms

"Hello, Uchiha-sama!" she chirped, setting the plate on a table near the bed. "Surely you feel better, right?" He nodded, wincing slightly as she removed the IV from his arm. She gave him the plate of rice balls and stood away from the bed. "When you're finish eating, I'll give you a check up. Then you can change and you're free to go." He nodded again, eating quickly. He handed her the plate and scooted to the edge of the bed so she could run her green chakra coated hands along his body. "Alright the, nothing seems to be the matter, so," she handed him the clothes. "You can go!" Sasuke nodded his thanks and slipped of the bed to go change.

**XOX**

Sasuke walked down the street slowly, trying to find out where his blond friend would be – maybe should've asked for the blonde's address before. He huffed – it was the weekend so the only place he could think to look was their usual training grounds. With that in mind, he set off towards his destination.

"_Hey look, it's the Uchiha kid."_

"_Oh how tragic."_

"_Yes, I know. He's an orphan now."_

"_And to think his own brother did it."_

"_I wonder how he's handling it."_

"_He needs someone to talk to."_

"_My daughter is in his year. Hopefully she can become close to him and help him. Besides, they'd look so cute together."_

He snorted at the last one, annoyed. _'Can these people be any louder?'_ He finally escaped the main street of the village, to the more secluded areas. There were a lot of training grounds in this area, so not a lot of civilians were over here. _'Which means away from the gossip.'_ Sasuke finally came upon he and his blond friend's usual training grounds. It was a little out of the way but it was good enough. He hummed, brows creasing a little – Naruto always wanted things out of the view of others, like he was paranoid. _'Maybe it has something to do with what he needs to tell me.'_

"Sasuke!" He looked up to see Naruto running on to him a happy smile on his face, so big that it forced him to close his eyes. "Hey man! Ya disappeared on me!" Sasuke frowned, noticing the frown on his friend's face was fake.

"Drop that act. You know what happened." The smile faltered before dropping all together. Sasuke blinked, shocked by the amount of worry present in blue eyes.

"I was worried, ya know..." he started off. "I know I shouldn't have been. I mean, you're an Uchiha, you can handle yourself way better than I can. And then..." He paused, trying to find the right words without hurting the raven's feelings. "Your brother did it so I know that must've hurt, more than I can imagine." He dropped his head, bangs falling in front of his eyes. "When I heard you were in a coma, I didn't know what to do. I felt to useless. I mean you may not consider me, but I feel like you're my best friend and the only I can trust... Famous clan or not, you're still or not, you're still a kid like me and I don't think a kid would be able to survive a coma without coming out seriously messed up. To have your clan slaughtered is one thing but then to be forced into a coma, by your own clan's doujutsu no less... And your brother is crazy strong. I thought you wouldn't make it," he whispered, shoulders starting to shake. "A-and I was so _scared_... I didn't want to be alone anymore." Sasuke was shocked into silence.

"...Naruto are you crying?"

"I'm sorry..." The two stood in silence for a moment before Sasuke started talking.

"...Itachi told me that you have a secret..." Naruto's head whipped up, red puffy eyes wide and scared.

"A secret?" he asked. _'Surely he can't be talking about the fox... right?'_

"Yeah and that I should accept you no matter what it is." Naruto gulped, fear of rejection forming a lump in his throat. "Remember that day at the academy, when you told me that you'd tell me when you found out?"

"Yeah... You promise you won't get mad? Or tell anyone?" Sasuke nodded, determined. "Okay... Well what do you know about the Kyuubi?"

"It was the nine-tailed demon fox that attacked the village eight years ago right?" he asked. Naruto nodded. "Then the Yondaime killed it, giving his life in the process."

"That's where you're wrong. The Bijuu are masses of endless chakra. You can't kill _chakra_. But what _can_ you do with it?" Sasuke hummed, thinking.

"Oh, that's right! You can seal chakra, right?"

"Yeah. But the Kyuubi is the strongest of the Bijuu so you can't just seal it in a pot or a scroll or anything. So they have to seal it in a human, more specifically, a baby."

"So what does that have to do with you?" Naruto sighed, fear keeping him from saying it.

"Sasuke, when was the Kyuubi attack?"

"October 10th, eight years ago."

"Right, and when's my birthday."

"October tenth... Oh..."

"I was that baby," the blond muttered, waiting for the raven to call him names and run away.

"...Why would the Yondaime seal it in you though?" Naruto's eyes widened – Sasuke wasn't rejecting him?

"What I'm about to tell you is also top secret. The Yondaime can't do to someone else's baby what he wasn't willing to do to his own." Sasuke's eyes widened.

"You mean you're the son of...?" Naruto nodded.

"You know the Red Death lady your mom was partnered with?"

"Yeah, you never told me who they, well she, was."

"While I was looking her up, I found out her name was Kushina Uzumaki, the only other Uzumaki in the village other than the first Hokage's wife. She was a Jinchuuriki, just like me."

"A Jinchuuriki?"

"Yeah, people with Bijuu sealed inside them, like me." Sasuke nodded. "And then I found out she was married to the Yondaime. She was pregnant – which was how her seal came undone and the Kyuubi got loose – with a child. Everyone just assumed it died with her but it was actually me." Sasuke nodded, suddenly staring hard at the blond. "W-what?"

"Now that you mention it, you _do_ look a lot like the Yondaime. With your blond hair and blue eyes." Sasuke's face got really serious. "And now _I_ have something top secret to tell_ you_." Naruto nodded, childish excitement building in him at the thought of sharing secrets that only a handful people knew about. "My Aniki didn't just slaughter my clan in cold blood. They were planning on taking over the village. Itachi, being a protege in our clan, was told and he in turn went to go tell the Hokage. The Hokage made it a mission and Itachi took it. But he spared my mom and I, and took my mom with him to make it seem like she was killed too. In fact, he's spying on an organization that is hunting people like you down, the Jinchuuriki."

"Really? What's it called?" Sasuke blinked before frowning.

"He never told me." Naruto frowned as well.

"I guess we need to figure that out." Sasuke grinned, a feeling of needing to protect the younger blond overcoming him.

"For now on, I'll be your older brother." Naruto's eyes widened.

"...O-older brother?" Sasuke smiled, putting his arm around the blonde's shoulders.

"Yeah! When my Aniki left, he was basically passing on the torch of being an older brother on to me, kinda. So now it's my turn to be an older brother to you!" Naruto smiled warmly.

"Okay!"

**XOX**

**And cut! So in this chapter we see Naruto's sensitive side. I mean, a child ostracized by society has to be affected mentally somehow. So this is how I did it. And it also ties up Naruto and Sasuke's brotherly relationship. Unfortunately, I didn't get to Naruto's inheritance. I think next chapter I'm going to do that and finding Naruto and Sasuke a sensei. Then chapter twelve will start after the timeskip, to the Genin exams. Anyway, review! **


	11. My Goals?

**Title: **The Child of Darkness

**Rated:** M (I finally got around to changing it)

**Category:** Naruto

**Pairings:** None

**Summary:**_ A rare power bestowed upon him, tainted by the hate he was surrounded by. He wasn't as idiotic and weak as they thought. No… in fact he was strong, raised by the darkness they left him in. Now he's going to rock the Shinobi World by becoming a world renown SSS-rank ninja... Get ready. Grey!Naruto EventuallyExtremelyPowerful!Naruto DarkFic_

**XOX**

**Yeah, so there was a big mix up with chapters 9 and 10 so if you read the screwed up chapter 9, go back and read the actual one. So this is the last chapter before the time skip. I think a solid 11 chapter before a five year time skip is okay. ^_^ Uh, not much else to say. ****OH, I almost forgot! WE REACHED 100 favorites! So right now we have 1****40**** followers, 10****6**** favorites, and 7****2**** reviews! 90 reviews, 1****20**** f****avorites****, and 1****60**** followers by the end of the week maybe? ****Let's try! ****REPLY TIME!**

**Evil-Pain: It was your review who inspired my new summary! So for their life goal, look above. And not cold. I don't really like emotionally retarded Naruto. He and Sasuke are just going to be very sarcastic and confident, with the experience and training to back it up. And I think I'm going to include the Fourth Great Ninja War in this story. So I'll fit that in there somewhere.**

**Prettyflower34: Lol! It's all good, I'm quite the emotional girl myself. You're very right, nothing wrong with that! And to your questions, no Sasuke won't kill Itachi – I wanted the massacre to strengthen their relationship. No crush on Sakura, hell no. Naruto will already have someone – which will somewhat be revealed next chapter. ****Sasuke is still going to be the rookie because I'm going to have the Genin underestimate Naru-chan**** – I'm going to have the teams the same only the ****set up**** will be that Naruto and Sasuke are the Brawn and Sakura the brains. I want to say fire. Because his main affinity is wind in the manga, I want to stick close somewhat. Also, black fire = Amaterasu. So Naruto's fire element is something I want Sasuke to help him with. Lol it's okay! I like the questions. Makes me feel special. ^_^**

**BR0TH3R MENACE: Why thank you!**

**Fez8745: Already answered your questions but yeah! Naruto is younger than Sasuke. His story kinda follows Lee's, how no matter how many times he failed, he stayed with his appropriate year.**

**Stallion6 of Deviantart: Lmao! I'm quite the yaoi fangirl myself -grins- BUT! The story will be het. I've been wanting to do this couple for a while, couple is a secret, and I wanted to break away from my FemNaru for a while – was running out of ideas lol.**

**TigrezzTail: Thanks for notifying me about the chapters. However, I didn't think to check chapter 9 and ended up having to change it in school on my phone after I got a review. Operating normal FF on an iPhone is a nightmare.**

**Nightfire237: ^_^ I think cannon Sasuke is very bashable due to the fact that he's a total asshole. Because of his asshole status and gullibility, it's so easy to pick him up, swing him around, and continuously bash him against a wall! But I won't. ^_^**

**Apollymi28: Hehehe yeah. Fixed it though. If you haven't already, you can go back and read the proper chapter 9 now.**

**Super Guestie: Thanks!**

**Tobi-mentally insane: Lol yesh I did. I fixed it though. So if you need to, go back and read chapter 9. It's fixed.**

**Korne-pokemon-luv: Lol yeah I make a lot of mistakes, primely because I never go back and reread like I should. And 'the darkness they left him in' is a bunch of plays on words – for example, how he was in a dark alley at the story's beginning, how he liked drifting unconscious after his attacks, how his special chakra is tainted black. ^_^ I was just being clever with my little word plays.**

**Myrddin767: Thanks! I think in the cannon, Naruto is too happy for someone who was hated by an entire village. I ****mean**** growing up in that kind of environment is not cool at all. I never really thought of the fangirls. Granted, the time skip is next chapter so we won't see much of them anyway. I think I'm going to have Sakura much more ****infatuated**** with Sasuke for the sole fact h****e's**** still talkative after the massacre and how he's much stronger after graduation than in the manga. I think I'll have her somewhat neutral to Naruto because she's not stupid and she knows Naruto and Sasuke hang out all the time. But team 7 will remain the same, member wise.**

**Lupe Jiminez: Yesh! Friendship!**

**Remzal Von Enili: First, your name is freaking awesome. And that idea seems pretty cool, though I think I'll hold it off until after the second timeskip, the Shippuden one. That way it's something I don't have to go too in dept about Naruto learning.**

**Well that's all the reviews! Had a whole page of them! ENJOY! ****Also, just for this chapter:**

"**Kyuubi speaking directly to Naruto."**

"_**Kyuubi speaking to Naruto in his head."**_

_**'Kyuubi's thoughts.'**_

"_Chi or Bikusen speaking to Naruto not in weapon form."_

_**Posted: March ****5****, 2013 (Yay! March!)**_

**XOX**

**Chapter 11:**_ My Goals?_

**XOX**

He stared mutely at the safe, contemplating whether or not he wanted to open it – what would he find? Excitement coursed through his being. _'Maybe it's something cool in there, like a sword!'_ he thought excitedly. But as always, doubt would rear its ugly head and he would think, _'Maybe there's a reason why the old man wanted to wait until I become a Chunin.'_ He sighed loudly, crossing his arms. "I'm just going to open it and get this over with," he said to himself, standing from the bed. He grabbed the metal safe and sat back on his bed, scooting back to where his back was against the headboard. After getting a kunai from his nightstand, he slashed his palm and let the blood leak onto the safe. Much to his amazement, the wound healed before his very eyes. His attention was drawn back to the safe when a spiral shaped seal glowed brightly before slowly fading away in its own spiral. He grabbed the handle to the safe and pulled, the small door sliding open easily. There were two letters, and three scrolls, two blue ones and a yellow one. He pulled the three scrolls out and set them on the bed, opting to read the letters first. Retrieving the two letters, he placed the safe on the bed. _'The one with the girly handwriting must be Kaa-chan's,'_ he thought. Taking a deep breath, the blond started to read.

_To My Dearest Little Naruto-chan,_

_Even though you haven't been __born__ yet, I know you'll be quite the looker, little one. No doubt you'll look like your dad, stupid dominate male genes. But in personality, you'll be just like me. I just know it! You're not very nice, you know – always kicking me and making me hungry and moody. But I guess that's just the 'Beauty of Pregnancy', or so Mikoto-chan says. She just had a baby too. His name is Sasuke and he has an older brother named Itachi! I hope one day you meet those two. I'm sure you'll be great friends, like how Mikoto and I are! Ah, just thinking about how happy she was just makes me anxious for your arrival!_

_But if you're reading this, then I'm probably dead. I'm a Jinchuuriki, a host to a tailed beast, the Kyuubi to be specific. Kyuubi's seal is typically weakened by pregnancy and I don't know if I'll __make it__, even with our clans blood flowing through my veins. __If Kyuubi gets loose, I know your father will seal Kyuubi in you, and that it'll kill him in the process. __I hope and pray with all my heart that the people of the village treat you decently though I know deep down they won't. A lot of the people in this village are biased and hateful towards things they don't understand. Even when I first came to this village, they didn't want me here because I wasn't born here. So something as big as being a Jinchuuriki is something they won't take lightly. I want you to be strong, Naruto. If you hate me for leaving you, I understand. But please, whatever you do, don't fall to the darkness. It will show in your kekkai genkai if you do. __The dark path is a path to __insanity__. __But, hey, what __can __I do? I'm...dead.__ I love you and I always will._

_-Your Mother,  
Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze_

_(P.S. In the first, __smaller __blue scroll are my two swords, Chi and Bikusen. They are very special heirlooms and are said you have personalities and other forms that they will only reveal you their special wielder. __For that special wielder, they will do magical things they won't do for others. In the second scroll are scrolls on our clan's jutsu and one scroll explaining our clan and it's many talents, as well as an explanation on our kekkai genkai. Learn well, my son.)_

Naruto sighed, a sense of guilt filling him – he couldn't fulfill his mother's wishes. Then he shook his head – he was forced down this path. There was nothing he could do now. He grabbed the second letter, blue eyes scanning over it.

_Dear Naruto,_

_I'm so sorry. Words cannot describe how heartbroken I am and how guilty I feel about doing this to you. Knowing your mother, she probably predicted this and wrote you a letter already, so if you haven't read hers, go do it now. I haven't got the time to explain things. I was an orphan so I don't have anyway clan scrolls or anything. In the yellow scroll are my two personal jutsu that I created myself – the Rasengan and the Hiraishin. I hope that you learn both of them and continue my legacy. If you hate me and want nothing to do with them, it's fine. I guess it's only fair since I'm putting this huge burden on your shoulders. I leave your life in the hands of the Third Hokage and your godfather, Jiraiya of the Sannin. I'm so sorry it had to come to this, even after I was so happy to be a father. _

_Your Father,  
Minato Namikaze_

Naruto sighed and went to set the paper down when he noticed some writing at the both of the page, hastily written and barely legible.

_This man... manipulating Kyuubi... Sharingan... Spiral Mask... Phasing... Can't hit_

He tried to make more sense of the jumbled words but other than the few words he already deciphered, there was nothing else he could understand. The blond put the letter down and laid back on his bed, eyes slipping shut. "A man, in a spiral mask, was manipulating Kyuubi with the Sharingan," he said, putting the words together, "But what about phasing? And can't hit?" He hummed, furrowing his brows. "Maybe... maybe they couldn't hit him because he kept phasing? Or hits phased right through him? That's really weird." Blue eyes snapped open and he sat up. "I'll just ask Kyuubi about it! Of course, why didn't I think of that before?...But how do I get there?" He slapped himself in the face, and crossed his arms. _'Last time I ended up there, I passed out after panicking. Damn it.'_

"_**Brat, would you shut the hell up? I'm trying to sleep."**_ The blond jumped, looking around wildly. **_"And before you ask yourself, 'Oh, who is that?', think that of the only one who can hear your thoughts."_**

"Ah Kyuubi, good! I needed to talk to you."

"_**I heard... And just think your replies. You look stupid talking to yourself aloud... or rather more stupid than usual."**_

_'Why are you such an asshole?'_

"_**And why are you such a dumbass? Some questions that will never be answered."**_ Naruto rolled his eyes and laid back down on the bed.

_'Well anyway, I just read my parents' letters to me, and in Tou-san's letter, it says you were being manipulated by the Sharingan. Who was it?'_ Kyuubi snorted loudly, making Naruto frown.

"_**Why should I tell you, brat?"**_

_'I'm curious...'_

"_**That's not a reason. But whatever. It was some defect Uchiha in an orange mask, like how your bastard of a father described."**_

_'He's not a bastard!' Naruto interrupted._

"_**Shut up, I'm talking. Anyway, I want to believe that it was Madara Uchiha."**_

_'No way! That dude was ancient! Like from the times of the First Hokage! How could an old man like him manipulate a huge, powerful fox like you?'_

"_**Nice to know someone around here acknowledges my power," **_Kyuubi purred. **_"As embarrassing as it is, that man was the only one to manipulate me. That's why I believe it's him because there has never been an Uchiha as powerful as he... Unless he trained someone in secret. I wouldn't put it passed him, the sneaky bastard."_**

_'Does Madara have phasing abilities?'_

"_**No, that is what's throwing me off. Madara isn't one to hide his face or simply dodge attacks with phasing in and out. He was always confident and competitive,"**_ Kyuubi mused. **_"It's all up in the air and no one knows this information but the two of us now. I have a feeling this isn't the end and this... guy will be back for me. Of that note, why do you want to know who he is anyway?"_**

_'I just wanted to know who killed my parents...'_

"_**Revenge?" **_

_'…' _

Kyuubi chuckled when Naruto stayed quiet. _**"Well I'm never against some bloodshed. Besides, I have a bone to pick with this guy, whether he's Madara or not. To ensure that I'll survive, I'll... train you."**_

_'Awesome!'_

"_**However!" **_Kyuubi boomed. **_"You can't tell anyone of this, especially not that Hokage of yours. They'll have you locked up in a heartbeat. On top of that, I'm not a very patient person. So don't interrupt me when I'm speaking."_**

_'...I can't even tell Sasuke?' _Red eyes rolled, just imagining the pout the young blond was giving.

"_**You can tell your Uchiha friend, but ONLY him! And he can't tell anyone either."**_ Naruto grinned, happy with the developments. **_"Now brat, you have to have some kind of goal in life. What is it?"_** Naruto opened his mouth to reply but stopped once he realized that he, in fact, did not have a goal. Usually he would shout that he wanted to be Hokage but that was an impossible goal.

"Those people will never accept me for who I am... Why would they make me their Hokage?" The thought made him depressed, that village of people who needed guidance wouldn't even choose him if he were their last hope. Anger destroyed the depression and he growled. "Well fuck them. I don't need their approval anyway."

"_**I'm not too pleased that all the effort I would put into training you would be a waste because you don't have a goal. Now what is it? An ANBU? A missing ninja? To destroy the village? Revive your clan? What?"**_

Now deep in thought, Naruto opted for speaking aloud. "I want to be well-known..."

"_**Why?"**_

"Because people never noticed me no matter how hard I tried here. Maybe in other villages, they'll appreciate me." Kyuubi smirked, pleased.

"_**I like the sound of that. Having people everywhere know your name, angering people, instilling fear and awe in others. It's right up my alley. Being the strongest of the Bijuu, I get quite a lot of attention,"**_ the fox said. **_"It's seems like you want to be in the Bingo Book."_**

"Bingo Book huh? I've heard of it before."

"_**I would be surprised if you didn't. A Bingo Book has various uses, depending on the village. But there is a universal book, where only the notable figures get in. People who have done horrific things or are very strong. The Kage are always in there, along with all top ninja from each of the villages. The book is organized by rank."**_

"Rank? Like Genin and Chunin?"

"_**No because not always are the people listed in that book enlisted shinobi. You know how some jutsu are more powerful than others?"**_

"Oh yeah! How you have your E-ranked and above jutsu. So they rate people like that too?"

"_**Yes, and the more dangerous you are, the higher the rank. The highest you can go is SSS-rank. Your father was a SSS-ranked shinobi of his time. Known all around the nations as the Yellow Flash."**_

"So, I guess you can just buy one of these things at the library? Or rather, a shinobi supply store?"

"_**I think the latter is your best bet. Now enough about this. You woke me from my slumber, brat. Go bother your Uchiha friend and leave me be."**_

"Good night, Sleeping Beauty," Naruto cooed, snickering as a growl resounded in his head, the ancient being grumbling about 'ungrateful humans' and whatnot. His mind drifted back to the scrolls and he huffed. "I really don't want to do any training today," he mumbled, putting the bigger of the two blue scrolls back in the safe. He neatly placed the two letters in as well, followed by the yellow scroll. He unfurled the scroll, slicing at his palm again. The blood dripped down onto the complicated looking seal. The ink of the seal glowed before a puff of smoke obscured his vision. On his lap laid two handles, confusing him The one the left was a very sturdy-feeling handle marked with Kanji for Chi, while the other was a more curvy and delicate-feeling handle, marked with Bikusen. "What the hell? I thought there were supposed to be two weapons here." He picked both of the handles up and felt a pull on his chakra.

"_Hello."_ Unlike when Kyuubi spoke, he wasn't startled by the voice. It was soothing, sounding two melodic voices sounding together. _"We have tested your chakra and confirmed that you are of Uzumaki. From where do yo hail?"_

"Erm, Konoha?"

"_Name?"_

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"_Welcome, Naruto-san. I am Chi," _said the more masculine sounding voice._ "And I am Bikusen." _This time the voice was more feminine and feathery.

"So... I thought you guys were supposed to be weapons."

"_We take form depending on what our wielder wants us to be, Naruto-kun," Bikusen said. "And as our wielders gets more powerful, so do we. Now channel a decent amount of chakra into us and imagine what form we shall take." _The blond did as he was told, imagining Chi as a wicked looking sword and Bikusen as a triple bladed scythe with a battleaxe-like blade on its opposite side. His eyes slipped open again and he gaped – the two handles were now in the designs he imagined, down to every detail, their respective names inscribed on them. A look of determination overtook the blond and he nodded.

"Time to get what I want."

**XOX**

Sasuke stood at the from of the gathering crowd, pictures all laid on a large bed of white flowers, dressed in all black. "My own families funeral," he mused silently, an air of depression about him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his blond friend walking briskly towards him, looking uncomfortable. "Hey Naruto."

"Hey Sasuke... I didn't want to come but I felt you needed some support."

"Didn't want to come?" Naruto's blue eyes swiveled to the crowd of villagers and shinobi alike, giving Naruto evil looks. "i'm not too... favorable to large crowds. But you're my friend. I have to be here for you or else, what kind of friend would I be?" Sasuke cracked a small, the usually brash blonde's slight embarrassment amusing him.

"Hey Blondie!" A man walked up to where they were, glaring at the younger child. "Uchiha-sama, would you like me to remove this _thing_ from your presence on this depressing day?"

"No, he's fine. He's not causing any trouble now go away."

"Are you sure?" the man pressed. "I'll be happy to deal with the problem." He pulled a kunai out from under his black robes. This made Sasuke angry – it was his day to mourn and these people _dare_ upset him?

"I _said_," he growled, glaring at the man with Sharingan eyes, "he's fine." The man paled and stumbled away, disappearing into the crowd. "Mindless idiots." Naruto grinned, slinging an around around his shoulders.

**(^_^)** **After the Funeral**

The two boys were walking together, having no where in particular to go. "Hey Sasuke, have you ever thought about your goals?" The question caught the raven off guard.

"Well, I want to revive my clan. Never thought about it after that." Naruto grinned widely, thumping himself on the chest.

"Well _I'm_ going to be a SSS-ranked ninja in the Bingo Book." Sasuke snorted.

"You have fun with that, Naruto," he mocked, a small smirk etching onto his face. _'Sounds like a good idea.'_

**XOX**

**And done! Must post! Now!**


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